Page 61 of The Devil's Reward
I park at the clubhouse and head up the steps. I walk in and fury rages through me when I see the club girls laughing and acting like all is right in the world. They’re all dressed in skimpy outfits, and when they see Viper and I, coy smiles appear on their faces. “Where is everyone?” Shyla purrs at me as she stands, pushing out her chest at me.
“Shut the fuck up,” I snarl at her. Her face contorts in shock, followed quickly by anger. “All of you get the fuck out,” I bellow at them, furious they can sit here like nothing is wrong. “Do not come back until you are told you can.”
“What the hell?” Shyla snaps. “Why are we leaving? You can’t order us around, Shadow,” she sneers.
My anger threatens to boil over, and I take a step toward her. “That is where you’re wrong,” I hiss. “You are here as a courtesy, not a right. You have two minutes to get your shit and get out. Do not test me or I will make sure you are never allowed back, got me?”
The other women must see the wisdom of my words because they rush to grab their things. Some head upstairs to grab a few items, but Shyla looks like she’s ready to keep arguing. With all the venom of his namesake Viper seethes, “Get gone, Shyla. That’s an order.”
She must finally realize just how serious we are because she shuts her mouth and stomps over to the bar to grab her purse. “Fuck you both,” she snarls at us. “Fuck this club and fuck all of you assholes. Including Bullet and Rose.”
I see red at her disrespect. Before I can reach for her, Viper is past me, scooping her up, and carrying her kicking and screaming out of the room. He shoves her out the door and then pulls out his phone. “Crypt,” he barks. “Need you up at the clubhouse to make sure that Shyla is off our property. Now.” Then he hangs up.
I stand in the middle of the room and take in the half-empty beer bottles and unfinished plates of food from whatever dinner the brothers were eating earlier. It’s going on nine o’clock and the sun is finally setting. Everything stopped when the call came in, that’s clear.
“What are we doing?” Viper asks me.
I look over at him. “We’re finding out who did this,” I tell him grimly. “By any means necessary.”
Viper gives a curt nod. “And you have a plan?”
I don’t, but I know the only way to get intel is to go to the source. “We need to grab one of Dmitri’s men and find out what he knows,” I tell him as I head for the steps. “If this was under his orders, they’ll know.”
“And if it was?”
I stop at the bottom of the steps and look back at him over my shoulder. “Then we go to war,” I answer and then hurry up to my room. I grab another gun from my safe since mine was confiscated at the scene, and as much ammunition as I can carry. I turn around and look at the picture on my dresser. It’s of me standing with Bullet and Rose the day I got my patch. Rose has her arms around my waist, beaming at the camera, while Bullet stands beside me, stoic, but pride clear in his eyes.
Bullet and Rose pulled me out of my own personal death spiral. I owe them everything.
I walk back out and downstairs and find Viper already waiting for me, gun in hand, and loading ammunition in the pocket of his cut. His face is grim, and without another word, we walk outside.
I go to my bike but stop when I see Crypt standing there. “You need help?” he asks.
“You’re a Prospect, Crypt,” Viper tells him calmly when I don’t answer.
Crypt knows but he holds my gaze. “But you know my skill set. You want to find who did this, you use me.”
Viper looks at me, but I finally ask, “Who’s manning the gate?”
“Carson,” Crypt answers. “He made sure the women, including the screeching one, were off the property.”
“He left a burning SUV down the road,” I say finally. “He would have had to flee on foot. Track him, see where he went, and let me know what you find.”
Crypt nods. “I’ll have an answer in an hour,” he tells me before he turns on his heel and strides away.
“An hour?” Viper says as he straddles his bike with a shake of his head.
I would be skeptical too, but I know Crypt, and he’s damn good at what he does. And I need someone I can trust. That list is very small right now. So instead of arguing with Viper, I turn on my bike. We head out past the now only smoking SUV while the crews clean up, and past the cops at the accident site.
I don’t look at any of them as I pass. I don’t need to see what I’ve already seen. What I’ve already lived.
We go into the city and I head right for Volos Auto Garage. It’s a known spot for Dmitri’s men, and I’m starting there. No point in wasting time. Viper follows behind me as I make my way inside.
When we walk in, everyone looks at us, and I zero in on the man sitting in the corner. I don’t need to know who he is to know he’s one of Dmitri’s men. His bright blue eyes are hard as ice as they take us in. I note the stiffening of his shoulders and the way his hands carefully move up in his lap. “Touch your gun and I’ll kill you where you sit,” I tell him coldly, ignoring every other person in the room.
His hands pause, but the fury in his eyes is clear. “Kill me and you will feel the wrath of everyone in this building,” he grits out, his accent a little less thick than the others but clear enough.
“Then isn’t this just my lucky day?” I say with a cold smile. “Because with the mood I’m in right now, I’d take pleasure in killing every last one of you scumbags. Now, I’m going to ask you a question, and you’re going to answer me.”
