Cruz (Dark and Dirty Sinners' MC #5) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,103
at that. "Jesus. He is?"
Mav's mouth was tight as he nodded. "He is. Just. Lost some limbs, but he's alive."
"Fuck, it's like being back in Baghdad."
The shadows in his eyes told me he agreed even if he didn't say a word.
"Was there a Prospect on the gate?" Ghost asked, her face tilting up as she asked Maverick.
"There should have been. I'd have to ask Sin who though."
"I didn’t hear the gates open," I denied, "so maybe the gates were open already?”
“So someone let in the other shooter and didn’t close the gates for them to make their escape?"
"You own most of the terrain around you, but there's no way of securing that much territory," I countered. "You and I both know that, especially when it boils down to a sniper. Maybe they snuck onto your land.”
"Would have to be a damn good sniper at that," he reasoned. "I know Whistler wouldn't do it, Eagle Eyes is still injured after that cluster fuck with the Italians, and that other guy, I can't remember his name, but their sharpshooter who almost took out Steel… he's no more."
I shook my head. "That's just it, they're the illegal snipers we know, Mav, but this goes so much deeper."
He frowned at me. "Explain."
I licked my lips. "You'll think I'm crazy." Hell, I'd think I was crazy too but I'd lived it. I'd been living this for years. This insanity was my reality, and it was why I trusted no one.
Because when the authorities were the ones who'd made you a sex slave. When people high up in the ranks, who vowed to keep the men and women in their command safe, sold you out?
Who the fuck could you trust?
But Maverick was right.
He'd sheltered me and Katina without much need for recompense, nothing outside of information and that was how we rolled anyway. I hadn't paid for food or lodging or electricity since I'd arrived at the compound, and I wouldn't until I left.
They'd kept me and Katina safe, when I’d brought danger to their door.
It was time I leveled with Maverick. It was just a shame that I was doing so at a moment where he'd never trusted me or had as little faith in me as he did now.
I'd always had a knack for shit timing.
It was almost comforting to see that hadn't changed even if the rest of my life had.
Nineteen
Storm
Riding from Ohio to New Jersey in one sitting, only stopping for gas and leaks, was enough to give a man hemorrhoids, but that was the level of dedication to my brothers I had.
When Nyx had called with the news, I'd told him I'd be there, and I’d climbed onto my bike the second I’d spoken with Keira and Cyan and had assured myself they were okay.
Well, as okay as they could be after what they’d been through.
While I was tucked away in another fucking state.
I broke speed limits, laws, and pulled moves that had me crossing over farmland to cut corners on the route, because my brothers needed me. My family needed me. But as I traveled, I plotted, not just what I needed to do for the club, but for my woman and baby girl too.
The exile in Coshocton wasn't going too terribly. It was easier because I was technically single, and didn't have to deal with the female politics, but most of the guys hadn't liked the last Prez's Old Lady so they dealt well with me. But they weren't my people.
We were all Sinners, all brothers, but what I had with the West Orange chapter went deeper than labels.
We were blood.
Maybe not genetically speaking, but in the blood we'd shed for each other, with each other, over the years, tying us together in more ways than a regular family could ever imagine. But even that was nothing to the level of disconnect I felt knowing that the only women I fucking loved could have died tonight.
The Sinners were why I got onto the bike even though I was a danger to drive. My girls were why I made the eight-hour trip in just over five.
Rolling into town, I knew my people were at the hospital, but I needed to see what was going on at the compound.
Though, technically, Nyx was VP and should be leading if Rex wasn't able to, Nyx had no leadership skills in him yet. He could lead us into war but when it came down to building a new clubhouse, that was more my forte.