From The Ashes (The Knights of Mayhem Book 3) (19 page)

“Dear heavenly father, please take this food and use it to nourish our bodies so that we can better serve you.  I pray you protect each and every one of us in the coming days from enemies unseen and threats that are unknown.  So if you’re not too busy, please keep an eye on the women while we are gone, and make sure we shoot straight. Amen”

When he’s done, we all silently send up our own prayers and follow them up with an amen. We sit in silence for a brief fleeting moment in the solace of the clubhouse, all together, a family who is fearing what’s to come.

Dalton shoves a big fork full into his mouth.  “Shit, Hollis, this is amazing.” 

“Thank you.”  I shyly smile at all the appreciative faces. 

We sit and eat, having lighthearted conversations when the door’s thrown open, making us all jump.  Oz and his boys walk through like they own the place.  “What, no invitation for dinner? I feel insulted,”  he quips as he comes to a stop in the middle of the room.  “Not here to eat, anyway.”  If I knew him better, I’m sure I could read his face, but the man looks pissed off all the time.  The other threes faces are not so guarded.  Cruz looks worried.  His boyish features are strained as he looks around the room at all of us. Mose is unable to stand still and Dex, gives off the same.  “We need to talk man, in private.”

Leo stands, throwing his napkin on the table.  “Sure … boys?”  He looks at his table of men who stand to follow him down the hall to the meeting room, leaving us women and Caden sitting at the table to worry.

Roman

I take my seat and wait for the rest to file in.  The vibe I’m getting from the guys isn’t good, and if the rest haven’t noticed what I have, we’re down one of ours. 

“Okay, what’s so fucking urgent?” Leo barks at Oz.

“He has your brother,”  Oz’s gruff voice delivers the news.

“Excuse me, can you run that by me again?”  Leo glares at the man he’d entrusted his brother with this morning.

“He must’ve waited ‘til we pulled away, or was waiting for him in the club, but however it happened, Markus has him, and he has demands.”

Leo bounds around the room, taking Oz by his cut, slamming him into the wall so hard, shit falls to the floor.  “Did you fucking set him up, asshole?”

Oz, not one to cower to anyone, grabs Leo by his shirt and pushes him across the room, slamming his back against the wall.  “No, fucker, I didn’t, but thanks to you, he knows we’re working together.  If I had to bet money on it, it was the chick he was going to see.”

I stand up and rush to pull them apart before they kill each other.  “Okay, step away.”  I take Oz by the shoulder to turn him away from Leo, but before I know it, he sucker punches me in the jaw, knocking me back onto the table.  This only ignites the fire under Dalton and Cowboy as they surge for Mose and Cruz.  I jumped to my feet and block a rushing Dex, knocking him to the floor.  “Stay the fuck down.”  I turn to see the rest of them beating the shit out of each other.  I pull my nine out of my waistband and aim it over my head, pulling the trigger.  The shot has them all reaching for their own weapon.  “Stop this shit now,”  I yell, replacing my gun back into my jeans before taking my seat.  “Can we please get back to the part where that asshole has one of our brothers?”   They all grumble as they push each other around a little bit more before taking their seats again. 

A knock at the door draws our attention as Piper peaks her head in.  “What the fuck is going on in here?”  Her eyes darting wildly around the room.

“Nothing, shut the door.”  Leo barks at her, she opens her mouth to argue, but he cuts her off.  “Now.”  Wisely listening she backs out of the room closing the door behind her.

“So Oz, what the fuck is going on?”  I ask as Leo wipes the blood from his lip, glaring at Oz.  “What are the demands?” 

Oz clears his throat.  “He wants Hollis and Megan in twenty-four hours or he’s gonna kill him.  And if I don’t deliver, he’s gonna offer me the same fate.” 

Panic hits me for two reasons.  One, I will not give Hollis up and two, Megan is six feet the fuck under.  “Fuck that. I don’t give a shit what he’s promised you.  That shit ain’t happening. We’re gonna have to find some other way.”  I scream at them all.  “Call Kent and get him the fuck in here, have him pull all the intelligence we have on this piece of shit.”

“That’s the thing, man. We don’t have any,”  Dalton interjects.  “We’ve sat on that house for a month and the only thing we’ve gotten from it are these dumbasses.”

“Hey, fuck you, asshole. If it weren’t for us, you wouldn’t know about your little fucktard brother.”  Cruz flips Dalton off.

“Son-of-a-bitch.”  Leo jumps to his feet, picking up his chair and throwing it through the plate glass window.  Leo is pulled back to his senses by the ringing of his phone.  He takes it out, looking at the screen, then us.  “It’s Eno’s phone.”  He lays it on the table and the sound of heavy breathing comes through the earpiece.

“You hear that?  Eno’s in pretty bad shape. My man here can’t control his need to put the hurt on people sometimes.  So, I take it Oz has delivered my terms?”  Markus’s arrogant asshole attitude makes my blood boil.  “These scars on your brother’s back and chest are very interesting. I take it you weren’t always in the company of mom and pop apple pie? I might add a few of my own so you can play connect the dots with his corpse.”  The sick sound of flesh sizzling fills the room, along with a whimper from Eno, trying his best not to scream.  “You have my sister and now I have your brother.  His well-being depends solely on your ability to get my sister back to me in one piece, and also your willingness to give up that two-bit whore you took from me.  You have twenty-four hours to decide … tic-toc, gentlemen, tic-toc.”  Then the line goes dead.

Chapter Seventeen

Hollis

I excuse myself from the cleanup going on in the kitchen under the ruse of needing to use the restroom.  I hurry through the open room and down the hall to the end.  I stand with my ear pressed to the door, listening to the whole exchange.  I’m surprised the sound of busting glass didn’t bring the other women running, but they’re off in the kitchen, cleaning up what they can.  I swipe at a tear rolling down my cheek. Markus has Eno ...
FUCK!
  My legs feel like Jell-O and threaten to buckle under me.  I press my back against the wall and squeeze my eyes closed. 

I feel the hint of a panic attack begin to take hold of me.  I hadn’t had one in years, not since my mother had died. 
Breathe, Hollis … in one, out two, in three―

“Hollis?”  A man’s voice stills me.  I let them creep open to see a concerned looking Kent Delany standing before me.  His hand rests on my shoulder and he’s leaning so he and I are eye to eye.  “Are you okay?” 

I had seen him several times before.  His hair is cut in a high and tight and I notice it’s not dark anymore. His t-shirt is stretched across his toned chest and the hint of a faded tattoo peeks out from under the sleeve on his left arm.  “Hollis?”

“Yes, I’m fine,”  I whisper to him.  “Thank you, Mr. Delany.”  I step around him and make my way to the door leading into Roman’s room.  I swallow hard and close my eyes, sending up silent prayers for Eno. 

“Hollis?”  Roman’s gentle voice comes from behind me.  I turn to see he’s stressed beyond belief.  “How much did you hear?”

Kent had ratted me out, but I shouldn’t be surprised.  “All of it.”  I fight the tears of anguish that are threatening to spill out.  I pace back and forth.  “Oh my god, oh my god … what have I done?  What the hell have I done, Roman?”

“Hollis.”  He takes me by the arm and leads me the rest of the way into the room, closing the door behind us. “You haven’t done anything.”

“They’re torturing him!”  I bend over and rest my hands on my knees.  “Burning him with cigarettes and it’s all because of what I’ve done.”

He pulls me up and cradles my face with his hands, tilting it up so he can look me in the eyes.  “We’re going to figure this out, I promise.”

“How? How are you going to do that?  You have no clue where he is or where he’s holding Eno. To top it off, we don’t exactly have Megan, now do we.”  I begin to fan my face with my hands. 

“Calm down, we have a plan.”  He drops his hands from my face and takes one of my hands to lead me to the door and down the hall.  All the other men are waiting in the open room, talking about the plan they’ve come up with. 

Leo’s standing in front of a metal cabinet full of guns.  He begins tossing black vests to all the men, except the Bastards, who’ve taken up residence at the bar.  The kitchen door being flung open grabs my attention as Piper, Emily, and Avery exit the kitchen into the already tense situation.

“What the hell is going on?”  Avery asks, looking around the room.  “Dad, when did you get here?”

“Come on over here and sit down, ladies.  There are a few things I need to tell you.”  Leo nods to the vacant couch.  They file past me one at a time then sit down with very cautious looks on their faces. 

“You’re starting to scare me, Leo,”  Avery states as she lowers herself down.  Her eyes dart wildly around the room, waiting for answers to her unspoken questions.

“Markus has taken Eno.”  Leo announces to the room, making Avery and Emily gasp.  Piper covers her mouth, holding in a scream of disbelief.  Seeing this unfold in front of me makes me feel more guilt than I think I’ve ever felt in my life.  Although when I search their watery eyes, there is no blame, only shock.

Avery collects herself.  “What are you going to do?”

Leo lowers himself down on the coffee table so he can look Avery in the eyes.  “We’re going to raid the house and see if we can find anyone there that knows anything.”   I feel Roman’s arms snake around me, hauling me into him.  The other men also move to comfort their distraught women.

Avery sniffles.  “What else?  There’s more, there always is.”

“We have twenty-four hours to produce Megan and Hollis for him or he’ll kill him.”

“You can’t do that, give Hollis over to him.”  Emily sits up away from Cowboy, who’s standing behind her.

“That goes without saying. Giving up Hollis was never a thought or an option.  Besides, we have no idea where the hell Megan is.”  I watch as Roman and Cowboy exchange looks, then Roman looks down at me. 

Oz clears his throat as he walks up beside me and Roman.  “I hate to interrupt this heartbreaking scene, but I’m not sure that’s the best thing to do.”

“Who the fuck asked you?”  Leo stands, clearly being brought to anger by the presence of an outsider.

“You did, asshole.  You dragged me into this whole fucking thing.”  Oz’s nonchalant attitude reflects he isn’t part of our circle.

Leo starts to move in his direction but Roman steps between them and backs Leo up.  “Let’s hear what he has to say first.”  He turns to Oz.  “Okay, please enlighten us.”

“If you take down his most lucrative house, Markus will put a bullet in your brother’s head just for spite.”  He walks over to the bar and takes a beer from the fridge, twisting the top off and throwing it in the garbage can.  “The only way you’re gonna get him back in some sort of condition, and still breathing, is to hand over the women.”

“You’re just saying that to cover your own ass,” Dalton points out.

“Yeah, maybe I am, but I also know Markus. Just ask little woman there, she’ll tell you what the man is capable of.  The way I see it, there are two people in this room that know Markus better than the rest of you put together.”  All the eyes in the room turn to me.  “Tell them how many times you’ve had to clean blood up off the floor at the farmhouse.”

I close my eyes and let out a long, deep breath.  “More times than I can count, and Oz is right. You raid that house, he’ll kill Eno and come after all of you.  I’ve seen him do it.”

“And how do you know all this?”  Cowboy asks.

“I was his enforcer. Someone did him wrong, me and my boys went out and got them for him.”  Oz looks at me.  “Ain’t that right, sweetie?”

Roman tilts me back.  “You know him?”

“Yes.  He was around a bit when Markus would do business out at the house.”  I step away from Roman.  “I’m sorry, I never thought it would come up.”  I look up into his anger betrayed eyes.  “Knowing I knew him wouldn’t have made the outcome of what Markus has done to Eno any different.”  The memories of the horrible acts that had been committed there and by one of the men standing before me made me shudder. 

“No, it doesn’t, but you could’ve said something.  Anything else we need to know?”  Roman rubs his temples. I can see the stress creeping into his shoulders and his eyes are becoming pinched from the headache I’m sure is starting to stab his head.

“The basement.”  Oz and I say at the same time.

“Basement?”  Cowboy comes to stand next to Leo, looking at us both.

“There’s a basement.”  Oz smiles at them, reveling in having the big bad DEA agents eating out of his hands. 

Leo looks around the room frantically. Spotting what he wanted to find, he surges for it.  He hands me a box of Caden’s crayons and a blank piece of paper.  “Draw it.”

“Draw what?”  I look at him confused. 

“The layout of the house and the basement.”  Leo pounds his finger onto the table, then turns to Kent.  “Can you put out some feelers and see if we can find Megan, or at least a location?”

“That’s not gonna work either.”  I sigh, feeling my shoulders slump under all the weight they’re carrying.

“And why is that?”  Kent asks, holding his phone.

“Cause she’s dead.”  The audible gasps in the room let me know I’ve kept the shock value in the air. 

“Say what?”  Leo jerks his head around to me.

“She’s dead.” 

“How do you know?”  Leo’s becoming more concerned as the seconds tick by.

“Because I was the one who killed her.”  A pin could’ve dropped and I think someone would be able to hear it all the way into town.

A visibly shaken Emily jumps to her feet.  “I have to go check on Caden. I can’t take any more of this.”  Cowboy kisses her on the forehead.  She stops briefly, squeezing my hand as she walks past me and exits the room.

“Well fuck,”  Leo growls.  “Did you know about this?”  He turns his venom to Roman.

“Yes, I got rid of the body.”  Roman confesses.  I look over to him, my knight in shining armor.  I reach for his hand, letting him know we’re in this together.

“I knew too. He told me when I went up to the cabin.”  Cowboy comes over and stands next to me in the firing line.

“Jesus Christ, you three are the biggest fucking idiots I have ever met.”  He turns and throws his phone that Dalton promptly catches.   “What the hell are we going to do now?  He’s going to kill my fucking baby brother.  Holy shit!”

“Hey, man.”  Dalton slides up beside Leo.

“What?”  he barks at him.

“He doesn’t know she’s dead. He thinks these assholes took her.”  Dalton looks way more proud of himself than he should be for the observation. What an ass.

Leo jerks around to face us.  “Where the hell is that farmhouse?”

Roman

“For the last time, Hollis, you are not fucking coming with us.  Did you get it this time, because I’m not saying it again.” I pull a clean shirt over my head and turn to look at her.  She has her face all screwed up with anger and her fists balled at her sides.

“You have to take me with you,”  she screams.

“No, I don’t.”  I return the favor as I push past her for the door.  “You stay the fuck put.  We’re gonna take care of this and I don’t need to be worrying about you messing with my head.”  I jerk the door open and storm down the hall with her right on my ass.

“Roman, you can’t show up empty handed.  If he sees I’m not with you, he will kill Eno.”  I come to an abrupt stop, causing her to run face first into my back.

I’m over this and tired of hearing how she feels that it’s her duty to sacrifice herself.  “Hollis, shut up and fucking forget it.  I’m done talking about it.”  I turn from her and head for the door, all eyes ducking from me as I walk by them.  “Let’s go, boys,”  I demand as I burst through the door to the chilly air of the early fall afternoon.  The door slams behind me, leaving me alone in silence for the first time since we decided to hit the farmhouse.

I jump in the passenger side seat of Leo’s SUV and wait for them to say goodbye the proper way to their women.  Yes, I was a dick, but I feel like I had to be.  I’ve tried every way possible to get Hollis to understand we didn’t need her falling on a sword over her guilt.  “Damn it.”  I punch the dashboard.  “Fuck,”  I scream as the door opens and the boys pile in.  Even though I should, I’m not going back in to apologize.  I’ll just make it up to her when we get Eno and I can prove to her we didn’t need her.

Leo opens his door and slides in, giving me a look.  “Well, that was different.”  He gives me a skeptical once over.  “You sure you’re good to do this?”

“Just as great as you are, asshole. Let’s go.”  I slap the dashboard again, but this time to signal Leo to get the hell out of the lot.

The rest of cab fills with Dalton, Cowboy, Matthew and Beeker. I turn and look, and it just doesn’t look right to me.  We’re incomplete. If one is gone, there will always be something missing.   We’ll have the cover of darkness by then and hopefully, when we get there, I’ll have a clear head. 

“Fucking women. How the hell have you lived with these creatures for so long?  I’ve been with Hollis for over a damn month and she’s done nothing but drive me bat shit crazy.”

“So I guess you’re just keeping her around for the sex and her superb pole dancing skills?”  Cowboy asks from behind me.

“Fuck you. The answer is no, and shut up.”  His sarcastic comment only adds to my aggravation.

“Keep telling yourself that, man, just keep telling yourself.”  Cowboy leans up and pats my shoulder and I jerk away.

Fuck him, he’s right. The woman has infected my blood. She’s a part of me now and I know I could never let her go.

My mood fits in with the heavy feel of the air.  I fall silent and realize my domestic problems nowhere compare to the problem of getting Eno back.  I sit back, taking a deep breath, trying to get my head back into the game. 

“So, when you were there, did you notice anything?”  Leo baits me into a conversation I don’t want to have.

“Like what?”  I’m thankful he’s trying to pull me out of my head.  “That it was a fucking dump?  And it’s a wonder it hasn’t been condemned?”

“No, you big fucking ball of sunshine … helpful information,”  Leo grumbles.

I take a deep breath and let it out.  “There are a lot of rooms and the whole thing is spread out, but I remember the layout of it.”  I glance back at the bikes riding behind us.  “You sure it was a good idea bringing them?”

“And the layout of the land around it?”  He gives another weary glance up in the rearview mirror at the loud bikes. Oz insisted on riding.