Holding On (41 page)

“
Look,
let me get to the point then.  Your girl Cherry, that her name
right?  I’m sure she’s alive.  Boys grabbed her near that
shit of a house she has and well, you saw those pictures man.
 Sick assholes, dude.  I mean sick.  They tried to
get her to talk about your security, members, and your girls Sadey
and Mace.  FUCK!  She didn’t know anything, she did NOT
KNOW ANYTHING!  I swear man, I tried to tell him she was just
a whore, but he didn’t believe me man.  I’m not about hurtin’
women, who gets it up for a beaten and torn woman?  The big
guy isn’t about that either, but he has that fucking yuppie ass of
his. Goes by name of Greaton or Grafton, I don’t know. It ain’t
even a road name. He’s not even a member but he holds way too much
power I’m telling you, he’s hungry for it. He’s a rabid dog and he
needs
put down
. He’s got a sick mind and hell he’s creative. He thought long
and hard about what he wanted to do to Cherry to send you the
message he wanted sent. . He will spend eternity in a special place
in hell for that.”

“
Did you just fucking say
GREYSON?”  Shame is unglued again, but I’m not close
behind.

“
Yeah man, he’s crazy.
 He did all that shit to Cherry and damn if he didn’t say Mace
and Sadey were next.  I told you I’m not about that life, not
women.  When we start beating fucking women well fuck, that
don't make us men.”

Shame cuts Hoods pity
party short.  “Who killed Switch?  I mean, no way Greyson
did.  He’s pussy.  Who killed him?”  

“
Dude, no.  I don't
get to know this information.  Greyson told me I was lucky to
be alive being that I was Switches right hand and from what Greyson
said about the guy in charge now, Switch fucked up a lot of shit
for him.  I swear man, Switch never even told me someone was
over him and he and I were close. Switch was ruthless that’s
understood, but I don’t think this big guy was in charge long
before Switch ran, now he’s dead.”  

“
Where is Cherry?  I
need to get her back if they kept her alive.”  Jesus, she was
kept alive.

“
I got one of the other
brothers to confess before I killed him, man.  He spotted me
leaving while I was on my way here and he was suspect of where I
was going.  It’s all so FUCKED UP.  She’s on her way back
to you.  I don’t know how or when.  Look, need you to
know this, I’m doing this to help those girls.  I had a sister
raped and murdered.  I was there, I remember everything.
 That’s the only reason I’m doing this, we ain't friends or
brothers.  This doesn’t mean you owe me shit.  I’m
pulling out a mark for my sister.  Just know that I’m telling
you the truth on her life, I’m telling you everything I got.
 I’m out.  I’m leaving town and never looking back.
 Fuckers may find me and kill me but better dead than live
like this.  I gotta ride.”

With that he puts his helmet back on
and starts the bike.  Over the pipes we see him tilt his head
and we hear, “Good luck” and with that, he’s gone.
 

Was a long ride back to the Clubhouse.
 Shame and I both in silent worry, this storm is starting and
once we are in the eye of it we both know that everything we’ve
ever known will change.

******

Arriving back at the Club,
we find that everything is as we left it.  Can’t say that I
wasn’t nervous about the possibility of walking into another
tragedy just as we did this morning.  Thinking about
everything Hood said has led me to believe that the man may have
been telling the truth.  I had heard rumors of his past and
that of his sister.  She really was raped and murdered in
front of him, by a street gang no less.  There is no honor
among those men.  This is what had led him to finding Switch
and becoming part of a brotherhood, just happened to be one of the
most fucked up brotherhoods in the state.  Now, he’s doing all
he can to escape it. If all he says is true then I don’t care what
he says, we do owe him a marker for giving us heads up about what
Greyson thinks he is planning. Fuck, just knowing Greyson is behind
this is enough to send me reeling.

Greyson Meyer.  The
pussy that I knew he was actually behind some of this shit.
 No way could he have masterminded this though, no way.
 He’s a moron and I don’t think he has the stones to pull
anything like this off.  If Switch is in fact dead, then
someone else is pulling all the strings.  The unknown is our
biggest threat at this point.  

That bastard knows a lot
about Mace and Sadey too. He knows their schedules, routines,
habits, and even how they think. He’s been in my Club house on
several occasions with Mace. Now I have to wonder if he didn’t
manage to make it into my office himself and plant those pictures.
Damn, if Gunner had found him and confronted him before we knew he
was an enemy, I shudder to think of the damage he could have done
to the girls and my brothers before they even knew what was
happening.

Knowing I need to find Sadey and Mace
and tell them about those pictures turns my stomach sour.
 Fuck, those girls don’t deserve this fear and the message
that was on the back of those pictures will certainly make them
believe the worst is coming for them.  How in the hell do you
tell someone you love that they are being hunted like prey and the
person hunting them is actually a fucking animal?

Hood said Cherry was on her way back
to us.  He never mentioned when or how, this doesn’t sit easy
with me either since the threat of my girls lingers so blatantly.
 If whoever is really behind this is contemplating a trade of
women of sorts then I will be ready, they won’t get another taste
on my watch.

I need to rally my inside guys and
have them take a closer look at the boys in our club, making sure
no one’s hands are dirty. Greyson knows my boys, he’s been around
them enough to see how the inside works. He would only have to find
a weakness in one of them and attempt to put enough doubt in their
minds and poison them against the Peril family.  In all my
time belonging to Peril this has never been a threat.  This is
the telling knowledge that it is personal, just don’t know to whom
yet.  I won’t really know this until I find out who the
mastermind really is. I don’t think I’m overthinking this either.
Has to be someone that knows us all and carries one big damn
grudge.

Certainly Mace and Sadey have no
quarrels with anyone, hell Sadey doesn’t talk to anyone outside our
group and Mace works at the damn public library. Greyson loved
Mace, I don’t believe he would kill her even if he was ordered,
could be wrong though.

Then there’s Peyton, I don’t know
enough about that woman to decide if she carries a threat.
 Mace told me that her parents are no longer in the picture.
Unsure if they are still alive. She comes from a shit past maybe
one of them see either of my girls as threat against them somehow,
if they are still alive.

Shame and I have enemies,
that’s common in our life; however I run a clean shop and we do not
deal in drugs or women so if either of us has pissed anyone off, it
has to be from the past that is now catching up to us.

Fuck, if it isn’t good to be home
though.  

I didn’t have long to
revel in my thankful homecoming.  As I pull off my helmet I
hear screaming from all the way inside the Club.  It’s one of
the girls too, but between the two of them it’s hard to decipher
which, since the fear of either one of them being hurt fuckin’
frightens me straight to my bones.

“
OH MY GOD.  GO!
 WE HAVE TO GO!”  I hear it again.  Go where? Shame
dismounts as fast as I do and we signal to the others to remain
here, in case something is going down and we require surprise
backup. Five pissed off and adrenaline wired men could do a lot of
damage if needed.

Finally making my way to the front
door I see Sadey holding the phone and Kegs and Mace are trying to
pry it from her but she’s got a death grip on it and isn’t giving
it up.

“
What the fuck is going on
dammit?”  I roughly grab the phone from a visibly dazed
Sadey.

Click. The line goes dead as soon as I
put it to my ear.  Whoever called must have heard me and hung
up in a hurry.  Jesus, these really are pussies we are dealing
with.

“
Cherry… she’s... Hem...
they said she’s...”  Sadey can’t talk so I look to Mace in
anger hoping to get this shit out.

“
Mace! What the fuck is
it?”

“
She’s at the lake, Hem.
 They called and a robot voice came on and told us she was at
the lake.  She could be hurt... or she could be dead.
 Hem we have to at least go look.”  Mace is pulling her
shit together for me, not the time to be proud of her for it, but I
am.

“
THERE’S NO ‘WE’ ABOUT IT
MACE!  You stick your ass here and not leave this house, do
you understand me?” I’m roaring so loud I hear blood in my ears but
damn if that woman isn’t thinking. She’s going nowhere.

Shame now has hold of her
and he’s trying to pull her to him but she is on her way out of her
mind, along with Sadey. This is exactly the chaos I’m trying to
avoid. The girls don’t even know about the threat that was printed
in those pictures. Thank fuck I locked those up on our way
out.

“
Shame, get the boys
before they unload. Add Ace to the mix and head out to the lake and
you call me before you step foot on that perimeter.  If she’s
really there in plain sight, then you grab her or call 911.
 You decide which option is best, I trust you brother. We can
handle the law, fuck may need them on our side in this.”

Shame only nods, not wanting to add
worry to the girls.  He kisses Mace on the temple and walks
out the door but not before Mace follows him quickly and holds him
tight to her.  With the calling coming in just as we pulled
up, she hadn’t had a chance to thank the lord for bringing him home
from Hood’s company safely. She’s blind to the fact that Hood isn’t
a threat anymore, what we have now is much greater and
uglier.

*****

--MACE--

My brother has holed
himself securely up in his office while he waited to hear from
Shame first. I am waiting for a call from Shame myself, but know he
has to talk shit through with Hem during this operation but finally
I get my call. Three hours is a long time to wait for this news,
almost thought my damn phone wasn’t working. The phone doesn’t get
a second to finish the first ring and I’m on it, “Hello! Shame?
What’s happening?”

“
She’s headed to the
hospital now Sweetheart.  Took a while for us to find her, it
was a lot of ground to cover. We found her though, okay? She’s
alive and I’m sorry but I don’t know much more than that.  Get
with Sadey, Hem, Honor and whoever else he wants and meet us at
Memorial as soon as you can.  Ace and I are on the bikes en
route there now.”

“
Okay Shame.  I
will.”  I’m about to hang up the phone and I hear him again.
 

“
Mace? You still there?
 I love you baby.”

“
I love you Shame, see you
in a few.”  If he and I weren’t able to communicate how we
felt in words before this mess, we are now.  It brings
emotions racing to the surface and not telling the ones you love
how you feel isn’t an option, it’s a requirement.

I’m riding in Sadey’s car on the way
to Memorial Hospital, she’s driving and we aren’t talking because
we are each trying to process this.  Cherry is alive and we
are both thankful but we don’t know what kind of condition we are
going to find her in.  We have no idea how she got to the lake
or who the caller was that informed us of where she was.
 

God, we really thought she had just
had enough of this life and took off.  I was almost happy for
her because maybe she finally realized she was better than just a
piece that she saw herself as. Guilt is eating me because I know I
didn’t do enough to find her, just in case something happened to
her.  

Hem and Shame both haven’t
said much about the meet with Hood, not that there has been any
time.  It’s so dark out now that Shame probably doesn’t know
the extent of damage to Cherry since he only saw her near the lake,
as she sat outside in the elements.  We don’t know how long
she was waiting for us to find her there.

“
Mace, do you think she
will make it?”  Sadey is crying, I hadn’t noticed while deep
in thought.

“
I don’t know any more
than you Sade, but we can pray on it right? How are you feeling? I
mean with the baby? Are you okay? The last two days have been a lot
for you to handle, and I’m sure your stress level has been wearing
you out.”

“
Yeah. I’m alright. With
everything going on, I haven’t even had time to think about the
morning sickness that was starting. I’m so sorry for Cherry, I just
don’t even know how to help her. Have you talked to Peyton lately?
Is she safe?”  She sounds small and she’s so worried. Shit I
hadn’t even thought about checking in on Peyton. I’m going to send
her a quick text and if I don’t get a response I’m going to have
Hem find someone to get to her.

*ME: Hey girlfriend! How’s
it going? Things are nuts here and I won’t be at work again
tomorrow. Tell Gramma I’m sorry but I swear I will make it up to
her. Tell her I will have Sadey make her famous chocolate chip
muffins!

This was my attempts to keep things
light, Peyton is a worrier and can sense fear. Her past gave her
that horrible ability.