Inflamed: A Shadow Riders MC (31 page)

"You gotta
guest
," he said, with heavy emphasis leaning on the last word.

"Somebody that decided to stick around?"

"No, motherfucker, somebody else that decided to show
up
. It's your bitch from the other night."

"
Shit
." He slammed his hand down on the table and jumped up.

"Be cool with her, Riv," said Blue, his tone now becoming one of deep concern. "She looks like she's been pretty messed up."

"
How
messed up?"

"Like somebody fucked her up somethin' good, brother."

"Christ." He ran his fingers through his hair. "Mia and Madison still over at Meghan's with Jolene and the kids?"

"Yeah, they're still over there."

"Alright, keep a look out for 'em. Make sure everything's good and then I'll do what I can to get rid of this bitch and have Styx or some shit take her home."

"Alright."

As they both reentered the house, Blue stopped and turned back to River after spotting Courtney sitting alone on the couch. They looked at one another, then turned their eyes back over to her. She looked as if she hadn't bathed, her hair was a goddamn mess and wild all over her head. The hem of her dress was ripped in half with parts of it covered in blood, though it didn't look as if any of it had belonged to her. Her normally white skin had spots of what looked like the start of bruises and her eyes were so goddamn bloodshot that neither of them could actually even remember the true color of her irises.

"Fuck," muttered River. "You go take care of what I asked and I'll deal with this shit here."

"Yeah, VP." He nodded at Courtney. "Darlin'."

She smiled and threw her hand up at him to wave as he left.

River moved over to the couch and hesitantly sat down on the coffee table in front of her. He brushed the hair from her face and shook his head. "
Jesus
. What the fuck happened to you?"

She sat up straight and smiled wide. "I, um... I went to visit somebody this morning and, um..." She stopped and wiped her nose. “It didn’t go so well.”

"Who the fuck did you go and see?"

"My brother."

"Is your brother the one who did this shit to you?"

She nodded. "He's in jail," she told him. "Prison, actually. They have him locked up in some kind of solitary unit which means that he doesn't get that much outside contact. Not that many people would go and visit him anyway. Not even our parents.”

"Why'd the fuck he do this shit to you?" asked River.

"Because he could,” she told him. “I'm the only person that he ever wants to see. When I was getting ready to go up there, he called me beforehand which is something that he never does, and told me what to wear."

"Why in the fuck was he tellin' you what the hell to put on just so that you could go up there and see him?"

"Because he's a control freak." She grinned. "I just never thought that kind of thing would extend to me."

"Why not?"

"Because he always said he'd take care of me," she told him. "I'm his baby sister." She turned from him and breathed in deeply. "When I got up there..." She stopped to wipe a fallen tear and dropped her head. "When I got up there, they took me to him. And he looked so handsome like I had never seen him before with his hair slicked back and a smile so wide... He looked like the Don Corleone of prison inmates." She paused. "And then he hugged me. He brought me into this giant bear hug, the kind I hadn't gotten from him since I was a kid, and I felt so safe and happy with him... But then he started saying things to me, started telling me things regarding what he had heard from people that he knew on the outside... and then he started moving his hands around on my body and I didn't feel so safe with him anymore--"

River sat back and dropped his hands to his lap. "
Jesus
."

She wiped away another tear. "He shoved a hand inside my dress and that's when I kicked him off of me. But he didn't like that too much."

"Nobody inside the entire goddamn place came to help you out when this motherfucker started losin' his absolute shit on you?"

"He's got that entire place wrapped around his finger. Any scream from me, any cry for help was gonna go unnoticed. It wasn't until I picked something up and cut him across the face that they came in."

"You go to the hospital or some shit?" he asked her.

She rattled her head. "This was the first place I came."

"Why?"

She turned her eyes back up to his and exhaled. "Because my brother's name is Ricky Fontaine, River. We don't have the same last name because we don't have the same--"

"Old man," he answered. "Holy shit. Did you know who the fuck I was from the very beginnin' of all this shit?" She stared straight into his eyes and without even saying another word, he knew the answer. "Jesus CHRIST!" He jumped up from the table and crossed the room. "What the fuck made you wanna come to the club that night?"

"I had heard about you," she said. "About your club and so many others from him for so many years. I just wanted to know what it was like to be inside one, to be inside of that world. I didn't plan to go to the Shadow Riders, but my friend knew that you were having a party that night. And when I saw you and you spoke to me, I almost fell completely apart, I was so happy." She got up from the couch and moved over to him. "Ricky didn't know about me going out there that night. He didn't know about the other night either, about me coming here, but... he told me he's been hearing things about you and the club that he doesn't like."

"What kinda
things
?"

"Things that involve Mia and her kid."

"Fuck," he muttered. He brought his hands up to his waist and locked his jaw. "What the fuck does he know?"

"He knows that she's staying here and that she's with you. And he knows that you've got people who can take him down if he tries coming anywhere near her."

"What about his own goddamn people?" he asked. "Motherfucker's got an entire goddamn army all over the fuckin' world."

"Not like he used to," she said. "It’s still there, but it’s not nearly as many people as before; he just wants people to think that. He still has a hell of a lot of power, River. But it's different now, you know? It's not the same kind of power that he used to have, it's no longer physical. It's mental. All those years inside, he's had time to think about a lot of shit. And a man like that who can use his brain more than any weapon he's got is more dangerous than one who likes to use his fists instead."

When the front door swung open and Mia peeked her head inside, Courtney shuffled across the room and wrapped her arms around herself while facing the corner of it.

Mia looked between them both, and frowned. "What's going on?"

"Um." River cleared his throat. "You remember Courtney from when you met her at the club."

Courtney threw her hand up and waved at her without turning around.

"Sure," she replied. She moved further into the house and closed the door behind her. "What the hell happened to you?"

"I, um..." She spun around to face Mia and chuckled while at the same time trying to hold back her tears. "I got into a fight with a cactus bush."

"In Tampa?" she asked. River and Courtney looked at each other. "I vaguely remember you mentioning something, sort of screeching about it that day."

River stepped back over to Mia and nodded. "What the hell are you doin' back over here?" he asked. "Where's Avery?"

"She's still at Meghan's with Madison, Lily and your mother."

"Blue still over there?"

"Yeah."

"How the fuck were you able to get past him?"

"Once Meghan started talking to him and offering up slices of her cake, it wasn't that difficult--"

"Christ," he grumbled.

"
Actual
cake,” she said with a laugh. “But it's fine. I just came back over to get Meghan's cookie tray."

"You came all the way back over here for a goddamn cookie tray?" asked River. He crossed his arms and smirked as did she.

"Well, truth be told, I thought that we could talk, but... seeing as you're busy, I'll just take the tray and go."

"You gonna let Avery spend the night over there tonight?"

"No," she replied. "I still don't feel all that comfortable letting her out of my sight for too long overnight just yet. Even if it's just around the corner."

"I feel you," he said. He glanced back at Courtney. "Really fuckin' feel you on that shit, babe."

Mia looked over at Courtney again and made a face. "Are you in need of some kind of medical attention?" she asked her. "I'm no nurse but I've--"

"I'll be fine," Courtney responded. She wrapped her arms even tighter around her waist and gulped.

"Okay. It's good to see you again. Just, wish it wasn't so much like this."

She chuckled. "What, with me being in your man’s house?"

"No, with you looking like somebody did a number on your face that didn't include 1 or 2." She looked up at River one last time, then grabbed the cookie tray from a table and quickly left the house.

River turned away from the door and dropped his arms to his sides. "I can't tell her any of this shit. It'd freak her the fuck out even more than she already is." He glared at Courtney. "You know he's gettin' out in the next few weeks?"

She nodded. "He told me today. I guess he has some sort of information on the judge that put him away and used that to threaten his family."

"Jesus...
shit.
" He rubbed the palm of his hand back and forth across his forehead. "Look, um, I can give you cash for a cheap motel nearby; one that's close enough for me to put one of my boys out front. I'll give you enough for the next few weeks 'til we can see where this fucker's head is at and when and how and fuckin' where he plans to strike next--"

"With Mia," she interjected. "I don't know when or how, but he's coming for her, River. He wants her and his little girl and I think it's because he wants to try and make some kind of family out of them; sort of like the one we never really had."

"Goddamnit." He dragged both hands down his face. "I'm gonna call up Styx, get his ass back here and have him put you up someplace, alright? And in the meantime, you don't say a goddamn thing about this shit to anybody, not even him, you hear? This is some shit I gotta keep... I gotta only let a few people know about this shit and that motherfucker can't be one of 'em, alright?"

"Alright." She nodded.

"Good."

He left her alone in the living room and headed off to his bedroom to make the call to Styx. Once they agreed, he hung up and sat down on the edge of the bed.

No way in fuck
, he thought. He brought his hands up and clasped his fingers while staring down so hard at the floor, he could've burned a hole right through it.
No way in fuck is that son of a bitch gonna snatch away somethin' that could be mine.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The next few weeks remained pretty quiet around both the club and River's house until he and Blue had officially decided along with the other members of the club for them to head out to Tampa to oversee Ricky's departure from the prison.

After meeting up with the Dragons, Miami and Orlando charters at the club, and giving them the information he had from Courtney (
though he willfully neglected to inform the other members, sans Blue, as well as the other charters about their blood relation
), all agreed that it would be best to see when and how that son of a bitch was actually going to strike before they made any sudden moves against him. Doing so, now being fully aware that his mindset and skills had only enhanced over the years, was bound to work more in their favor than against it.

As River sat back in his black pickup, his only other form of transportation outside of his bike, and kept his eyes on the gates of the prison, Blue ripped a joint from his pocket and quickly lit up.

River looked over at him and soured. "You really think that's a good goddamn idea so early in the day, motherfucker? And considerin’ where the fuck we’re sittin’ right now?”

"We're miles away from the prison, asshole," said Blue. "It's not like they can smell the shit from here or even put us away for it if they did." He pat the top pocket of his cut and grinned so goddamn hard that his face nearly got stuck from it. “Got a goddamn prescription for it this time from Miranda’s old man at the doctor’s office. One good thing I could say about Snake marryin’ that crazy bitch is the goddamn connections she’s got inside her own fuckin’ family. ‘Specially when it comes to needin’ shit like this.”

“Need?”

“Yeah, need brother.” He took a hit and bumped River on the arm. "You could use a goddamn hit of this shit as it is, fucker. Maybe it’ll help bring down some of those giant ass nerves you been luggin’ around for nearly a fuckin’ month."

River stared down at the joint, then snatched it from between Blue's fingers and took a long, long drag of it for himself. "
Shit
." As the effects of it started to take over, he adjusted his cock and sat back even further in his seat, then tossed his arm over the window of the truck and exhaled.