Empire of Savages (Savage Hunt MC #1)

9. Nick

Chapter 9

Nick

Someone was thumping on the door of my room, waking me from what had been a fitful sleep. Jerking upright, I reached for the Glock on my nightstand and barked an irritated, “The fuck?”

“It’s me.” Rixon’s deep voice sounded as tired as I felt. “You got a visitor.”

Scrubbing a hand over my face, I glared at the closed door. “Who the fuck is it?”

“Isla is here to see you.”

Isla ? Why was she here? Why now?

“I called her. She asked me to let her know when you got back,” Rixon replied, reading my damned mind.

Looking down at my naked chest, I shifted my legs off the edge of the bed. “Give me five,” I called out, finding the pair of jeans I’d kicked off last night on the bathroom floor. I found a clean shirt, then turned to the nightstand, picking up my Glock and tucking it into the back of my pants. My eyes settled on the two rectangular pieces of metal on a matching chain coiled up beside my phone. I reached out, touching the cold steel briefly. Lucifer whined, and I flashed him a dark look. The mutt held my stare, challenging me from his place at the end of the bed. That’s right. That little shit had managed to crawl onto the foot of the bed during the night and had stayed there.

“Stupid fucking dog,” I said under my breath as I pulled on my boots, then opened the door. Rixon was gone, but I followed the sound of voices coming from down the hall.

Kaash was lounging on the couch, nursing a beer, while Rixon was leaning casually against the bar as he spoke to the raven-haired woman who had loved my brother as much as I had. Her slightly uptilted eyes gave her an exotic look, and I knew from speaking to D during those early days that Isla’s dark eyes were what had drawn him in, but it was her heart that had happily held him hostage.

Standing behind her was another woman, her wide eyes darting around the clubhouse like she was afraid she’d catch a communicable disease if she stayed here too long. She was gripping the strap of her handbag, her tongue swiping over her lower lip. Nobody had noticed I was there yet, not until Lucifer’s claws clicked on the scuffed hardwood floor, alerting everyone to his presence… and mine.

Isla’s head twisted around, her watery gaze fixing first to my face before dropping to Lucifer. With a sob, she dropped to her haunches, and the mutt walked to her at an unhurried pace, wagging his tail slowly in greeting. She wrapped her arms around his muscular neck, buried her face against his short fur, and sobbed.

I shifted my weight, not sure what to do with this outward display of grief. “You can keep the damn mutt if you want,” I said, just wanting her to stop being so damned sad. Lucifer’s dark-brown eyes lifted to my face as a small whimper escaped him. Jesus Christ.

Pulling back and wiping the tears from her cheeks, Isla studied me with a penetrating gaze, and I knew without her having to tell me what she saw. She saw Dimitri. The same eyes. Same nose. Same lips. But I was not like my brother. She shook her head. “Dimi would’ve wanted you to have him. That’s why I left him here for you.”

As if this discussion about the custody of the damned dog was something Lucifer understood, he came and stood at my side again, one large paw on the top of my boot.

“He likes you.”

Brushing off the kind sentiment, I said, “He thinks I’m my brother. But I’m not.” Leaning into the dog’s muscular shoulder, I shifted him off my foot and took a step closer to the love of my brother’s life. “How are you holding up?”

She shrugged, more tears streaming down her cheek. By the way she wiped at them quickly, she hadn’t even realized she was crying again. “Like the other half of my soul is gone.”

Yeah, I knew how that felt.

“How long have you been out for?” she asked.

My shoulders tightened. “You want to go for a walk?” I asked, hoping like fuck she said no. I didn’t know what the fuck to do with my grief, let alone hers.

Isla gestured to the other woman with her. “I can’t leave Quinn by herself. I promised I wouldn’t.”

Quinn’s wide eyes flickered to my face briefly before dropping away.

“No harm will come to you here,” Rixon said to Quinn. “You’ll be safe inside the clubhouse.”

I’d forgotten he was even still in the room. That’s how shaken I was by seeing Isla.

“I can wait in the car,” Quinn said.

Chewing on her bottom lip, Isla turned the idea over in her head. “You wouldn’t mind?”

“Not at all.” She was turning and halfway across the room before I knew it. Being inside an MC clubhouse must have scared the fuck out of her. Isla followed behind her friend, and even though I told Lucifer to stay behind, the dog kept pace at my side.

Outside, the sun was bright, making me shield my eyes with my hand as I watched Quinn jump into the passenger seat of the Hummer that was parked nearby.

“You kept D’s car?”

Isla turned to me. “How did you know it was his?”

I shrugged. “He talked about getting one in one of his first letters he sent me.”

She nodded, looking pensive. “Why did you tell him to stop writing you?”

Rolling my shoulders, I tried to dispel the tightness between my shoulder blades. My skin felt like it was too tight for my body. Gesturing to the gate at the end of the driveway, we began walking, taking my time before saying, “He needed to focus on school.”

“He was worried about you.”

“I know.”

“He wanted to visit you every weekend. Why didn’t you add him to your list of approved visitors?”

My chest clenched, the regret singeing through my nerve endings. The truth was that I was a selfish prick. I didn’t want my brother to see me behind bars. I didn’t want to see the disappointment and shame in his eyes. “D was too good for that place.”

Isla stopped me with a hand on my forearm. “He wanted to support you.”

We were close to the gate now, and the prospect on guard rushed forward to open the gate. I waved him off, opting to exit through the security door at the far end. Sliding out of Isla’s grip, I slid the bolt on the fence across and pushed open the smaller door. Isla and Lucifer walked through, waiting for me to join them.

Walking together in silence, sweat started to roll down the side of my face, the sun’s heat oppressive. Isla’s sundress floated above her knees, the small breeze catching the light fabric every now and again. And for the briefest of moments, I wonder what my life would’ve been like if I hadn’t joined the Hunt. If I’d gone to college after high school like Dimitri had. If I’d met a nice girl.

It wasn’t that I wanted Isla. I wanted the idea of her. I wanted someone who knew all the sides of my life—all the dark places I sometimes fell into—but still liked me enough to stick around. To maybe join me in the darkness and become one of the monsters with me.

I shook my head. “Rixon told me the funeral was nice.”

“It was,” she replied softly. “All our friends from college came. And the club was there, too.”

Clearing my throat, I said the words that had been plaguing me for too long. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I only…” I sucked in a deep breath and let it out. My emotions were crowding the back of my throat, making speaking difficult. “I found out he was dead the day before his funeral. I couldn’t get a furlough. I couldn’t get…” Gripping the back of my neck, I pulled, trying to massage the guilt out from under my skin.

“Hey.” Her soft, warm hand was on my back as I doubled over, the sick feeling in my stomach rising. “Just breathe, okay? I got you.”

Sucking in deep lungfuls of air, I tried to pull myself back together. Tried to wrestle my grief back into the box I’d locked it in while I was still in prison. Lucifer whined and licked at my balled fists, staring at me with those dark-brown eyes that seemed to see right through me.

When I felt I could, I straightened, Isla’s hand falling from my shoulder. “You loved D,” I said.

She shook her head. “No. I love him.” She touched her stomach. “And a piece of him still lives.”

My mind turned razor-sharp, and I stared at her hand. “You’re…”

“I’d only just told Dimitri.” She peered down at her flat stomach. “I’m only nine weeks along right now. It’s early days, but I know how much D wanted to be a father.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I’d been blindsided. She was carrying D’s baby. She was going to be a mom, but she was going to be doing it alone.

“I’ll support you, Isla.” The words were out before I could truly consider them. “And the baby.”

She shook her head. “That’s not why I came here today. I wanted to see you and let you know that you’re going to be an uncle, not a stand-in father.”

“But…”

“I’ve already thought everything through. I can do this. My parents will help.”

I licked my lips. Processing. Knowing there was a piece of D out there in the world had done more to ease my mind than I thought possible. “I want to help.”

She smiled at me, and I knew in that instant that she was going to make an amazing mother. “The only thing I need from you, Nick, is for you to know your niece or nephew when they come along. I want you to be in their life, just like D would’ve wanted.”

Glancing down at Lucifer, I said, “That’s why you gave me the mutt?”

“I gave you Lucifer because I won’t be able to take care of him along with a newborn, as well as get through my last semester. And I knew you could do with the company.” She smiled gently at me, like she knew that sentence was utter bullshit. “Then, I needed to know he’s with someone who will look after him just as well as I can. How about that?”

I grunted, knowing exactly what she was doing. Looping her arm through mine, she turned us around and started back to the clubhouse.

“I’d better go and rescue Quinn. She wouldn’t let me come alone.”

“Yeah, I could tell she wanted to bolt when we were talking at the bar.” We walked a few more paces. “That’s something D would’ve done for me. Given up his sense of safety to help me. I’m glad you have someone like Quinn on your side.”

She flashed me another one of those cryptic smiles.

“Will you finish your degree before the baby comes?”

“I will, as long as everything else goes to plan. I have no intention of becoming one of those women who forget all about their degree as soon as they get pregnant. I worked too damned hard for all these years to give up now.”

“Good.”

The prospect guarding the entrance slid open the lock on the security door and held it open. Isla walked through with Lucifer again, and I followed behind. But when Isla made a small, distressed sound, I reached around for the gun I’d tucked at the small of my back. But following her line of sight, I dropped my hand again when I saw what she was looking at.

Vox was close to the passenger side of the Hummer, his intense stare on the woman inside. Our road captain wasn’t an unpredictable person, but he wasn’t exactly Martha Stewart either. As if sensing our eyes on him, he turned his head briefly in our direction before looking back at Quinn. I saw her mouth moving, but in true Vox style, he only cocked his head at her, then turned around and strode to his bike.

“Who’s that?” Isla asked.

“Our road captain, Vox.”

“Is he dangerous?”

I watched the man in question roll past us on his bike, jerking his chin up in greeting as he went.

“No, he’s not. Just… intense.”

Isla nodded in understanding and hurried up to the Hummer. Lucifer stayed at my heel as I joined them.

“… you okay?” Isla was asking her friend.

“Fine.”

“What did he say to you?”

“Nothing,” Quinn replied, sounding baffled and looking bewildered. “Literally nothing . He just stared at me.”

Isla looked at me.

I shook my head. “He’s harmless.” I didn’t want to give Isla any reason to not come back. “But you two should probably go. I have some club business to take care of this morning.”

“You take care of yourself, Nick. And don’t be a stranger either. Rixon has my number now.”

“I will. And you, too.”

Reaching up, she touched my face gently, her smile sad. Looking at me must’ve been hard—seeing my brother’s face and knowing her person was gone. Knowing he was dead. On her toes, she pressed a kiss to my cheek, then got into the car and left.

“Brother.”

I turned to see Gunnar standing by the door.

“Brooks came through.”

“The daughter?”

He shook his head. “Something else.”