Empire of Savages (Savage Hunt MC #1)

27. Nick

Chapter 27

Nick

After making sure Alex was settled in the bar with all the other families, I joined the rest of my brothers in Church. By some fucking miracle, nobody had gotten seriously injured at the cemetery. Beckitt had caught a ricochet off a nearby gravestone—grazing his ribs—and Jaxon had a split lip and a broken nose from the slugging match he got into with one of the shooters.

“I’m coming,” Beckitt said, leaning up against the wall, cupping his side like he could cover up the bloody evidence of his injury.

“You’re staying,” Kaash replied in a hard voice. “End of story.”

My gaze shifted to Rixon as he sat at the head of the table. He looked wrecked. Completely destroyed. And whether that was from Molly’s death, the funeral itself, or the shoot-out, he looked nothing like the man I knew. The title of president was hollow at this point. He was physically in the room, but mentally withdrawn. Kaash, as VP, had stepped up as everyone would expect. But as I stared at him, at the gleam in his eye, Eli’s words from last night rattled in my head.

A position of weakness.

War.

Have we played right into his plans?

“Where’s the shooter now?” our VP asked.

“Got him stashed at a warehouse,” Maverick said, the diamonds on his ring glinting on his finger as he folded his hands on the table in front of him. “Just waiting for Gunnar to make him talk.”

I looked at Gunnar across the other side of the table. Since he was the club’s enforcer, he was the one who did the interrogating when it was needed. A glint of anticipation edged his eyes at the prospect of torture.

“While Gunnar gets as much information from the shooter, I need everyone else ready to start hitting known Devils’ homes.”

A position of weakness.

War.

Grunts of ascent rose up around the room, the Kentucky, Ohio, and Florida chapter members lending their voices to our cause.

“Once we’ve decimated the safety of their homes, that fuck, La Croix, will circle the fucking wagons and bring everyone into lockdown.” Kaash thumped the table with his index finger. “That’s when we take out the rest of the motherfuckers. We strike fast and we strike hard. Those motherfucking cunts took shots at us in broad fucking daylight. In our territory. They shot our president’s old lady at her front door. The Devil’s Chaos will be extinct by the end of the day!”

A chorus of agreement went up, everyone slapping their palms against the tabletop or banging the walls they were leaning against. From a tactical point of view, there really was no better time to strike at them. We had the fire power. We had the manpower. We had the fucking infernos of revenge burning in our bellies.

But did we have the right target?

“We leave in two hours.”

As the men shuffled out, I rose last, waiting until Eli had finished talking to Kaash before approaching Rixon. He barely registered my presence, his brown eyes focused on some point in the middle ground. I could feel Kaash’s glare on my back as I helped Rixon from his chair and out the door.

“He’s a fucking liability, Nick,” my VP said just loud enough for me to hear as Rixon walked down the hall and into the bedroom he’d started sleeping in after Molly’s death.

A position of weakness.

Waiting until Rixon shut the door behind him, I said in a low voice, “He’s our president, too. Or have you forgotten that?”

His answering laugh was cold. “Oh, no, I remember,” he replied. “But if he doesn’t get his shit together, the old bastard will find himself buried in the ground next to Molly soon enough.”

War.

I rounded on him, getting into his face. “Is that a fucking threat?”

With his hand planted on my chest, he shoved me backward a step. “All I’m saying is if he wasn’t being such a little cocksucker crying over his dead bi?—”

My arm was moving before I realized what was happening, my fist slamming into his jaw. Kaash’s head snapped back. When he leveled his gaze on me again, his eyes sparked with malice. His tongue darted out to taste the blood on his split lip.

“So fucking predictable,” he said on a growl before violently shoving me against the battered table behind me, my spine torquing into a strange angle, bowing back over the unyielding edge. I’d been in enough prison brawls to know how this worked.

Cocking his arm back, he delivered a punch that left me dazed for a moment. Before he could deliver another, I shifted to the side, watching Kaash’s hand sail past my head and collide with the solid wood. He let out a grunt of pain. Getting vertical again, I didn’t hesitate to land a few more punches, slamming my fists into his kidneys.

Kaash let out a feral sound, dropping his head and slamming his shoulder into me like a linebacker, tackling me to the floor. My head connected with the hardwood, the second blow in as many minutes not helping. My brain was foggy, processing much slower than it should have. Even though I tried to buck his body off me, Kaash held fast.

He straddled my hips, landing punch after punch to my ribs before wrapping his hands around my throat. His eyes were wild as he stared down at me, his teeth bared, his jaw tight. Bright blue eyes like ice shards hammered into me. Rage projected from his body, and it was then that I realized the depth of his hatred toward me.

Leaning down, he snarled in a low voice, “Why can’t you just fucking die already?”

I gasped, my throat burning. Pushing at his hands, I desperately tried to loosen his grip.

“Daddy Rixon’s motherfucking golden child.” He spat, his fingers twitching. “You know, Nick,” he continued conversationally, “I’m already beginning to wonder where your loyalties lie. Especially while you fuck around with that bitch. You know the one… Talon La Croix’s daughter.” He smiled, tightening his grip even more. I sucked in shallow breaths, trying to pry his hands off me.

“You’re surprised I know who she is?” His mouth curled into a snarl. “Who the hell do you think tipped off Gunnar’s source?” Humor laced his tone. “What are the rest of the Hunt going to think when they find out you’ve been fucking around with the enemy? They’ll assume you’ve been feeding them information about our club. Telling them where to hit us the hardest.”

His fingers continued to tighten. My movements became sloppy—uncoordinated. He leaned closer, the pressure on my throat crushing. “Want to know another secret?” he whispered. My awareness began to fog around the edges, the supply of oxygen to my brain dwindling too quickly.

He began to speak.

A ringing started in my ears.

And still Kaash talked?—

Darkness filled my field of vision.

—and talked.

I was desperate to pry his hands from my throat, but my grip was too sloppy. The fight left my body, but Kaash’s words bobbed at the top of my consciousness for a moment longer before I got sucked into the undertow.

“Jesus, fuck !”

The words sounded far away—muffled—like I was listening through a wall of water. Everything else was quiet here. There was no pain. Only quiet edges and softened blows.

“Nick?”

Someone was calling my name, but I had no idea which way was up, and which was down. The only thing I did know was that the pressure that had been bearing down on my throat had lifted. I let out a desperate gasp, sucking in a large lungful of air. My eyes opening, I found Eli and his VP, Will, holding Kaash up against the wall.

Eli looked at me over his shoulder. “Nick, you okay?”

Doubling over, I gasped in air as I rubbed my throat. I had no idea how long I’d been unconscious for. How close to death I’d really been.

“Nick, talk to me,” Eli urged.

Unable to speak, I nodded, then straightened, trying to get my feet back under me.

“Take it easy,” Eli warned, then yelled for another one of his guys to come in. “Reggie, help Nick up.”

Reggie did as he was ordered, wrapping a strong hand around my upper arm and hauling me to my feet. I was dizzy, but I knew that was just the remnants of the oxygen deprivation. The feeling would pass, but the words Kaash had said to me would not. They were seared into my brain.

“Get the fuck off me,” Kaash yelled, trying to dislodge Eli and Will.

Eli looked to me. “Nick?”

Clutching at my bruised throat, I watched Kaash’s upper lip curl into a sneer, and I knew he would’ve finished the job if he hadn’t been pulled off me.

“Nick?” Eli prompted.

My gaze skittered back to him, and I nodded.

The Columbus chapter president jerked his chin at Will, and both men released my VP at the same time.

With one final scathing look, Kaash stalked from the room, shoving past Will as he went.

Eli clasped me on the shoulder, drawing my attention. “Nick, are you all right?”

I nodded, swallowing shallowly, amplifying the pain. But that didn’t stop the way my brain thumbed through Kaash’s words like the pages of a damning manifesto.

“What the fuck was that?” Will asked, bewildered, concerned eyes flickering to Eli.

That was my motherfucking world spinning on its axis.

That was finding out who had killed my brother.

That was the smoking gun.