Page 203 of Malice and Surrender
“Ava, wait up,” Tanner took off hot on her heels, and I shook my head.
“Loyal one you have there, Chase,” I said sarcastically. Loving the opportunity to get a dig in at him.
Chase’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t make me tell you not the time or place,” he drawled.
I snorted. “Yes, Daddy,” I said, sweet as pie, and smiled at him.
“You had to go there and make it weird,” Chase countered. “Prick.” It was nice to see him flustered for a change.
“Okay, are we going to ignore the fact that a bush just killed a man? Or did no one else other than me and Ava see that,” Roach asked. “Please, dear God, let someone else have seen that.”
It wasn’t often that I got to mess with Roach, and I was tempted to lean over and ask him what he was talking about, but Mannix ruined my fun.
“Yeah, I saw it,” Mannix said, and Roach’s shoulders relaxed.
“That’s good. I look like shit in white straight jackets.”
“When the hell were you ever in a straight jacket,” I asked.
“I’m just saying it wouldn’t suit me. White is not my color.” He shrugged as I continued to stare at him. “Besides, for a moment, I thought I was tripping on drugs I didn’t remember taking. That would’ve led to a few more questions.”
I shook my head at him. What the fuck was in the water around this place?
“Sooo, two guys huh?” Chase didn’t look at me, but I could feel him wanting to smile and joke about my grand statement, ‘No one else will touch Raine.’
I turned and looked at Chase. “You know what….” I rolled out my shoulders as a sense of freedom came over me. “Tonight is a whole lot fucked up, and normally I’d take care of it. Just like I’ve taken care of it for the last one year, three months, and four weeks, minus a day.” Chase looked at me. His brow knitted together. “I’d worry about calling in a favor with the guy I’m blackmailing at the cop shop. I’d kill who I needed to keep this shit quiet and organize a proper cleanup, but since you’re back….” I squeezed Chase’s shoulder. “Have fun. I’m outta here.”
“What?” All three of the guys said at once. I never left when there was club shit to take care of. No matter how angry I’d been, I always put the club first, but tonight, I was getting the hell out of here. I had too much toxic shit doing the backstroke in my brain. The last thing I needed was to handle severed body parts.
“You heard me. I’m gone for the night. I’m sick of cleaning up mass amounts of body parts and stressing over this shit. I need a night off.” I looked back at the park. “Besides, I think the Vipers have bigger problems than us,” I said as an arm landed on the fence, getting tangled in the barbed wire.
I stared at the swinging body part and smiled, unsure why it was so fucking funny. Revving my bike, I rolled up beside Chase, who still looked shell-shocked at the carnage.
“It’s good to have you back, Prez. Call Johnson at the local. He’ll sort out the paperwork for a price.” I looked back at the mess. “He may need a bonus for this one.” Smirking, I rode out the gates to get as far away from whatever the hell that insanity was, only to drive by Ava running down the sidewalk in her duck suit and Tanner jogging right along beside her.
Sometimes I really wondered if it was me that was the common denominator because the craziest shit followed me around like a damn dirt cloud.
Avro
They had already done several cameos and miniature interviews with Jace and Raine. Jace did a great job coaching her because she handled herself well, and they looked like the perfect couple in love. He never left her side, and she kept her hand on his chest. The manicure I’d taken her for looked amazing on camera.
The media sites were eating them up, and Jace was too smooth sometimes. It should worry me how well he lied on camera, but he said it was just part of the persona, part of his act. The story was that he’d kept Raine hidden because she didn’t like the limelight, but he wanted the world to know who had stolen his heart and finally talked her into being seen. Raine looked beautiful, and I felt like a total jerk for backing out of going.
So here I was, eating a bowl of popcorn so large that someone could drown in it, drinking a new cocktail I made that I didn’t really like, with a bum ass knee, feeling sorry for myself. I had no one to blame but myself. I could’ve rescheduled my appointment and been soaking in a jacuzzi, sipping champagne as I waited for Raine and Jace, but nope, I had to go and ruin that. I glared at my knee like it had a choice in the matter.
“Why am I such an idiot,” I mumbled as the announcer called out the winner of the night’s first award. I hadn’t been able to pick out where they were sitting yet, but I always made it my mission. I’d lost count of how many times I watched award shows searching out Jace like a game of Where’s Waldo. I always hated seeing him standing on the carpet with his arm around someone else, but I didn’t feel that with him and Raine tonight.
Jace had a good chance of winning one if not two, awards. It was why Allen was so insistent that Jace be there in person. I took another sip of the drink and gagged, tempted to throw it out and start over. Even my skills at making a new concoction were off tonight.
I stood up to make something else when a knock sounded at the back door, which was strange because very few people used it.
Sitting my popcorn on the table, I limped over. I should not have worked behind the bar last night, but I was the only act right now without Raine. My knee was screaming at me for dancing.
I turned on the outside light and peered out the small window. Kai? Did hell freeze over? When I opened the door, Kai was holding a box of pizza and a six-pack of beer, but it was the blood smattering his face and clothes that had me wondering, what the fuck?
“I come with a peace offering. It’s only pepperoni cause I didn’t know what you liked, but the beer is good and cold,” he said, holding up the party-size box like I couldn’t see it. Who did he think we were feeding?
“Are more people coming?”
