Devil’s Vengeance (Devil’s Disciples MC #6)

Chapter 37

CHAPTER 37

CHASE

I expected Mariah to complain about the hovering, but she didn’t seem to mind as much as the old ladies did. She was doing her own form of hovering, too. She winced when I took my shirt off and she saw the bruising, helped me wash my back in the shower so I didn’t have to overextend the injuries, and fretted over every damn movement I made until I finally pulled her into my arms and kissed her fiercely. I never realized how badly I wanted someone’s support until she showed up. It meant a lot to me.

We stayed that way, wrapped around each other, until the water ran cold and we had to get out. I checked my phone when I was getting dressed, biting back a scowl when I saw a message from Clink. They were checking up on me. Apparently, Croy didn’t trust me not to do anything stupid.

Clink: Still alive?

Chase: Fuck off

Clink: Good boy. Get your ass to the clubhouse. Prez wants to see you.

Again? What now? Unless he changed his mind about putting me in the ground, I wasn’t sure what else was left to be said .

Chase: Mariah has work. I don’t want her at the library alone. Trick wants to target me through her.

Clink: Bear will go with her. Get over here now.

“Fuck.”

“What’s wrong?” Mariah asked. She had her hair half pulled back, some curls escaping around her face, and she was putting on makeup in the mirror above her dresser. I almost wanted her to take it back off, so she’d be less of a target for creeps like Trick, but it wouldn’t matter. She was still gorgeous either way.

“Prez wants me at the clubhouse. Bear is going to be at the library with you. You okay with that?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Do I have a choice?”

Smart woman. “Not about my part in it, no.” If she wasn’t comfortable with Bear, I could probably request someone else, but I didn't think they even knew each other. And she waved away the questioning look I shot her.

“It’s nothing. I’m just worried about you. We haven’t gotten to talk and…” She straightened, her brows furrowing as she looked over her shoulder at me. “I know you can’t tell me a lot, but can you at least tell me if I need to worry? Yesterday felt like goodbye and I’m worried if you walk away, I’ll never see you again.”

With a heavy sigh, I closed the distance between us and pulled her into my arms. I didn’t want to talk about Croy’s demand last night. I was still fucked up about it. Part of me felt like I didn’t deserve to live. But I didn’t have a choice in the matter. I didn’t doubt for a second that Croy would follow through with his threat. Not that he had to worry about that. I wasn’t going anywhere until I dealt with Trick. He was going to suffer for constantly taking important people away from me. I was going to feel him take his last breath myself.

At least for Mariah, I could tell her the truth. “I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart. I told you I’d keep you safe. ”

She seemed to accept that, and we headed out not long after. She said her mom was around, so I thought I’d have a run-in with her, but Mariah backtracked by the calendar on the wall and chuckled as she grabbed her purse.

“What?”

“Apparently, she’s in a goat yoga class this morning.”

I jerked my head back, surprised. “What the fuck is that?”

She smirked at me. “It’s exactly what it sounds like. Yoga, but with goats running around and jumping on you. My mom is the queen of weird hobbies. She’s eccentric.”

I followed her outside, still looking at her like she was crazy. “Goats? Like the farm animals. Seriously?”

She snickered. “Yep. You’ve never heard of it?”

“No. Where the hell would I hear about that?” Granted, the sweetbutts were chatty when they wanted to be, but none of them ever mentioned that . “Isn’t that unsanitary?”

Things were easier with Mariah, but I knew she wanted a conversation. And she deserved one after all the shit that went down last night. I tried not to feel guilty for ditching her at work, but I couldn’t help feeling a little grateful that I didn’t have to have that conversation right away. I couldn’t ignore an order from Croy. Not after how badly I fucked up. I waited at the library long enough for Bear to show up before heading back to the clubhouse to face whatever hoops Croy would have me jump through. He let me live, but that didn't mean he wouldn’t make my life miserable. And I still felt like I deserved it.

This early, the clubhouse was quiet for a different reason than last night. More than half the crew was asleep. The only ones who were awake were the ones with legit jobs. And the officers, apparently.

They were waiting for me in Croy’s office, all of them glaring at me as I stepped inside. I kept my face carefully neutral and didn’t sit until Croy jabbed a finger at the only open chair across from his desk. Everyone else leaned up against a wall and glared holes into the back of my head .

“I know you haven’t been sitting on your ass since you started on your stupid revenge quest. Start talking. What do you know?”

I figured he’d ask, and I was prepared for it. “I know the Iron Horsemen are having trouble with the cops in their town. Too many warrants out. Frequent raids, arrests on coercion, extortion, that kind of thing. Trick is a low-level nobody, which was why I thought–”

“No one gives a shit what you thought,” Brewer snapped from behind me. “Stick to the facts.”

I bit back a scowl and forced myself to stay calm. “They’re originally based in a small town outside Phoenix. The same town we went to for the rally.”

“Who’s in charge?” Reaper demanded.

“The president goes by Patriot. His real name is Silas Eden. He’s a racist motherfucker, runs his club like a nazi party. After the arrests, he was left with three other officers. His VP, Billy, or Billy the Butcher as he likes to be called, and his Sergeant at Arms, Tank. I haven’t gotten anything about who’s filling in the rest of the positions yet.”

“What’s their product?” Clink asked, his arms crossed over his chest. He wasn’t usually a serious guy, but his crew came first, and these assholes fucked with his people. If he was ever going to be serious, it’d be in situations like this.

“Used to be weapons. Guns mostly. But they’ve been branching out in the past few years if the arrest records are anything to go by. Coke, for the most part, but they’ve dabbled in other drugs.”

“So they are coming after our product then. Stupid fuckers,” he hissed.

I fought to hide my grimace. I thought it was just Trick messing with me. I’d still believe it if his crew hadn’t attacked mine. If it’d just been him last night, it’d make sense, but there were a lot of those fuckers attacking the house. More than just Trick and a few of his buddies. How he managed to convince his entire crew to start something with mine just because I threatened him was beyond me.

“They into trafficking?” Brewer demanded. “They were in Lacey’s club.”

I shook my head quickly. “I looked into that. Nothing I’ve found said they trafficked. Plenty of rape charges on their members, though. Increasing her security was a good call.”

“Yeah, no thanks to you, asshole,” he growled. “You’re lucky I wasn’t the one making the call to keep you alive. You’d be in that chair if it were up to me.”

From the looks on their faces, none of them wanted to keep me alive. Only the fact that Nevada pushed for it right before he died kept them from putting me in the ground. I owed him my life several times over.

“Enough. How many of them are here?” Croy growled.

“There were at least fifteen in the bar. I haven’t gotten an exact number of how many are in their club. At least thirty based on arrest records.”

“So probably more than fifty,” Reaper added. He was serious, and the only one not bothering to waste his time glaring at me. He looked at Knox instead. “Call the Phoenix chapter. See what they know.”

He nodded and made note of it. He was the newest officer, having only been in the position a year. He took over the secretary spot right after I was promoted from prospect.

“I want a meeting with their prez,” Croy said out of nowhere. We all looked surprised at that. Aside from alliances, crews didn’t intermix and they sure as hell didn’t have meetings. What the hell was he planning?

“Prez?” Clink queried.

Croy looked up at him, his expression filled with a dark promise. “I’m going to tell him in person that his club is at war with mine. He should know what’s coming for him.”

My stomach dropped. He wasn’t just demanding the heads of those who attacked us and killed Nevada. He wanted to decimate their entire crew for what they did. Me and my issues brought my crew into a war.

“Knox, make it happen. Somewhere outside our territory, so he knows it’s neutral. I don’t want him getting any stupid ideas. Clink, call Ruiz and update him on what we know. The fucker already tried messing with our supply. We need more security for our drops on both ends. Brewer, set up a run through our territory. I want a show of force.”

They left, and I was going to push to my feet to leave too when Croy stopped me. “Not you. Sit down.”

I slowly lowered myself back into my seat, eyeing him warily. “Prez? ”

He ignored me, taking the phone Reaper handed him. He scrolled through whatever Reaper was showing him and nodded once before handing it back. Then he looked back at me.

“You said more than once that this asshole was coming for you through a woman. The same chick who was in your room last night?”

A heavy weight settled in my gut. “Yeah… Her name’s Mariah.”

His face gave away nothing. I had no idea why he was asking about her. She wasn’t part of this. She was an innocent caught in the crossfire. She shouldn’t have been involved in the first place.

“I’m pulling her security. I want to draw this asshole out. If he wants her as badly as you say he does, he’ll come for her. Then we can get our hands on him.”