Fatal Attraction (Love Kills Duet #2)

18. Eighteen

Eighteen

Spike

P hoenix and I pulled up at Daggers the following evening, getting out and taking in the horde of cars and motorcycles parked around the building. Phoenix told me to wear the least favorite pair of clothes I owned, so I opted to wear an old coffee-stained T-shirt and a pair jeans I hadn’t worn in months. As for Phoenix, he’d chosen to wear all black and had even opted to wear a matching beanie on his head. Why all black—I hadn’t a clue, but if he was expecting for shit to get bloody tonight...

Shit.

It was easier hiding bloodstains in black.

I mentally kicked myself in the ass for not taking that into consideration ahead of time.

Phoenix drew in a powerful breath, releasing it as he stalked toward the building, his fists curled cautiously at his sides, his head raised high. “Whatever you see or hear tonight,” he muttered, his head turning to me as I fell in step beside him. “Please know I’m not that person anymore.”

“Phoenix—”

“No, dammit, I need you to listen. I’ll have to do things, Spike. Things I haven’t done in years. You’re going to see a side of me you’ve never encountered before.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

Phoenix sighed, dropping his head. “I guess you’ll see for yourself.”

We made it to the entrance, where this time a chubby guy with a shaved head, wearing a sleeveless Rolling Rebels jacket and baggy blue jeans, guarded the door. He cocked his head to the side at Phoenix, grinning big before he extended his hand.

“Bonecrusher.” My partner shook his hand firmly, keeping his face impassive. “It’s been a long time, brother.”

“How’s it going, Toothpick?”

Toothpick?

It wasn’t meant as an insult, but I couldn’t help but do another baffled sweep over the biker, studying his bald head, massive belly, and the tattoos scattered up and down his large arms.

“I used to be a toothpick,” the man said, offering his hand to me. I shook it firmly, doing the smart thing by keeping my fucking mouth shut. “That was many years ago though, before I married the woman who helped fatten me up.” He paused, releasing a boisterous laugh at my gaping mouth. “You must be Spike.”

Still, I said nothing.

“Boss is busy at the moment, so feel free to go in, drink, and mingle. I’ll let you know when he’s ready for you.”

“We can’t stay long,” my partner said to him. “Make sure Crow knows we’re on a time limit.”

The man who identified as Toothpick graciously bowed his head out of respect. “Of course, Bonecrusher.”

“I don’t want to do this,” Phoenix whispered when he was gone.

“I’m with you,” I promised, reaching up and grasping his shoulder tight. “No matter what happens, I’m with you. You’re still my partner.”

“I’m sorry, Spike.”

“So am I, brother. So am I.”

Drawing in a final breath, Phoenix pushed open the door, releasing a jubilant sigh at the ironic sound of Five Finger Death Punch blasting through the place. After closing his eyes, I watched him closely; experienced the joy spreading across his face as he began singing along, bobbing his head and moving his body. It was his favorite song .

Under and Over It.

Phoenix let himself go, head banging and swaying, before he crouched down low and then sprung up like the rising sun, howling like a wolf at the top of his fucking lungs. Others howled in response but didn’t bother taking the time to look and acknowledge our presence.

A wicked grin spread across Phoenix’s face when he peered at me over his shoulder. Nudging his head toward the bar, I followed him there, spotting Crow’s daughter—Kendra, I think—racing around the bar to drop off some drinks at a high-top table full of what I suspected were normal civilians.

“Kendra,” Phoenix greeted her when she was back, after we’d taken our seats.

She bristled, completely overwhelmed as she froze, her blue eyes bugging wider and wider as she turned to face us.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, gazing here, there, and every-fucking-where around the place, most likely searching for her father. “You can’t be here, Phoenix.”

“It’s okay,” I reassured her. “Your father is expecting us.”

Her pretty face tightened in anger. After tucking a few strands of dirty-blond hair behind her ears, she moved closer to us and asked, “Why is he dragging you into this shit?”

“You know why,” Phoenix said softly. “If I do this for him, all the bad blood between us will be wiped clean.”

That drew a scoff out of Kendra. “That’s bullshit. What happened between you and Aunt Kendall isn’t your fault, Phoenix. It’s hers.”

“Tell that to him,” he uneasily grumbled, rolling his eyes.

Kendra sighed. “I’m not sure where he is and I’m not where I can hunt him down.” She emphasized by throwing up a hand and gesturing around the atmosphere. “Can I at least get you two a drink?”

“Please,” I begged, knowing we both were going to need one. “We’ll take whatever’ s cheap.”

“It’ll taste like shit,” she warned, her perfect brows raised.

“Then make it a double.”

Kendra observed me for a beat, head cocked. “You know what… Fuck it. Whatever you two want is on the house tonight. Just don’t tell my father.”

Phoenix smiled, nodding his thanks as she grabbed two glasses and filled them up to the rim. Phoenix wasted no time gorging his down before he handed the glass back, insisting on another refill.

“Bonecrusher,” a dark voice called out, and we turned, finding Toothpick standing behind us with a dark smile on his face. “Boss is ready for you. Go ‘round the back of the bar to the shed.”

Phoenix guzzled down his second drink, motioning for me to follow. After chugging mine back, I kept my lips zipped, knowing better than to speak out of character with so many bodies posted around, and walked the same path behind my partner, all the way down to the building which harbored a dozen more bikes surrounding it. I couldn’t forget to mention the ear-ringing wails erupting from the outside, the sound chilling me to my bones.

“Bonecrusher,” Crow said when Phoenix stepped inside, leaving me standing there at the door completely aghast.

The shed was loaded with hundreds of weapons mounted against the walls, and in the center was a young man in his mid to possibly late twenties tied down to a chair, dressed in jeans and a black biker jacket which was undoubtedly caked in blood, along with the rest of him. Off to the upper left-hand side, in the furthest corner of the room, was Crow. He was sitting on a barrel, wiping his bloody hands clean with a towel, a huge grin spreading his lips.

“This is the pest that’s been giving me such a hard time.”

“Bo-Bonecrusher?” the guy gasped, his bloody eyes wide and shrouded with fear. “I thought you were a myth.”

“You thought wrong,” Crow growled. “The Bonecrusher is very much real and is called upon when needed, Leo. ”

“ Leo ?” Phoenix repeated, whipping around to steer his sight on Crow, who nodded.

“He was just a wee-one when you left us, but he’s all grown up now.”

Wait… Did that mean this guy was a member of Crow’s crew?

“I’m sorry,” Leo said, panting hard as he struggled against his binds. “I was only trying to support my family. I-I didn’t meant to betray—”

“But you did ,” Crow stated in a venomous whisper, his nostrils flaring. “You helped sneak in that last shipment of drugs and refuse to give up who’s in charge.”

“Please, Crow,” the man begged, sobbing, snot mixing in with blood dripping down his crooked, broken nose. “I have a daughter. She’s only two years old. I-I did it for my family. To support us. What would you have done if that was Fran and your baby?”

Crow launched from the barrel and clocked Leo with a vicious right hook, sending blood splattering out of his busted mouth.

“You will not dare speak HER name,” he sneered so dangerously that even the walls in the shed shook. “ EVER! ”

“You regret it, don’t you?” Leo asked, giving him a bloody smile. “Choosing your father and the club over her. She left you, then moved away and had a kid with another man, all because you were too fucking weak to fight for her.”

“ You mother fucker —”

Phoenix caught Crow’s fist and managed to push him back as Crow’s chest began to heave, his pupils narrowed to insanely thin slits.

“I’m fine,” he roared as he shoved at Phoenix’s chest, growling fiercely when I came up behind him and secured his arms behind his back.

“Calm the fuck down,” I commanded.

“You have no order here!”

“You asked for our help, remember? ”

That seemed to bring Crow back to his senses. When he stopped fighting, I released him, watching carefully as he strode back over to the barrel and sank down on it, though his lethal glare never left Leo’s grinning face.

And then Phoenix whirled, bashing Leo between the eyes in a brutal punch which immediately wiped the smile off the poor bastard’s face and had me stumbling back with my mouth hanging wide. Leo’s head spun like he was seeing stars.

I didn’t have time to think or form a verbal response before Phoenix moved to the left side of the shed, studying the weapons with his head cocked curiously to the side. My spine trembled when he grabbed a hammer and a box of nails. He passed the box over to Crow just before he took a single nail out, holding it in one hand with the other clasped tightly against the hammer.

“Who are you working for?”

Leo didn’t answer, and then faster than I could blink, Phoenix punctured the nail clean through Leo’s left palm.

He cried out, weeping harder as more snot spilled from his bloody nose.

“Who. Are. You. Working. For?”

“Please,” he begged, shaking his head desperately. “I have a family.”

I saw the hesitation on my partners’ face, his movement—how his jaw trembled, fighting back tears as he reached out to accept another nail from Crow’s outstretched hand. I started to demand Phoenix stop, that I’d do it so he wouldn’t have to, but it was already too late. With a ferocious swing, the hammer came down, lodging Leo’s right hand against the arm of the chair.

Jesus, fuck .

Leo’s wails tore through the building, and I swallowed hard, watching in horror as my partner tossed the hammer to the floor and then proceeded to grasp two of Leo’s fingers, snapping the bones in half. By the time he was finished, all ten of them had been broken into limp, sagging noodles .

“Stop,” I demanded as Phoenix turned away, chest heaving, and fetched a sledgehammer displayed on the wall. I couldn’t bear to watch either of them suffer like this any longer.

I marched over to him, snatched it out of his grip, then turned toward Leo who was sobbing, begging for mercy.

“Who do you work for?”

He responded by shaking his head, tears pouring from his battered eyes.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I said in a gentle, pleading tone, kneeling down so I was eye-to-eye with him. “If you want to make it out of this alive, you need to answer the question.”

“I-I can’t.”

“Bonecrusher,” Crow sneered, his teeth bared. “Finish the job.”

Phoenix made to take the sledgehammer from me, but I shoved him back with one hand and swung the weapon around to rest over my shoulder with the other.

It wasn’t until all the bones in Leo’s left foot were completely shattered that he broke, crying out for mercy again.

God, please forgive me.

“It’s the Ravens,” Leo screamed. “I’m working for the Ravens!”

“Son of a fucking BITCH,” Crow screeched, lunging from the barrel so fast that it toppled over.

Phoenix ran after him, just to fall to his knees a moment later, vomiting everywhere as he gripped his stomach, tears rolling down his cheeks. I was torn, unsure whether to help Phoenix or go after Crow, but my gut fucking screamed at me to question Crow.

I threw the weapon down and charged like a raging bull, tackling Crow’s stubborn ass to the ground before he could make it to the bar. I locked my legs around his and was lucky enough to get my arms around in time to put the fucker in a headlock. Whether he liked it or not, he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Talk, Crow. Fucking talk, or I snap your neck here and now. ”

Crow fought against me, straining to breathe, and then slapped three hard times against my arm, begging for air.

I eased my grip, ignoring him when he called me a bastard under his sputtering breath.

“The Raven are new,” Crow explained, his voice a weak rasp. “Emerged nearly a year ago. Their President is called Augustus.”

“Last name?”

“I don’t know it, only that the guy goes by Augustus. He… Their crew is too new to the Pines. My club and I checked them out first thing when they arrived, and Augustus and his crew were friendly to us. Perhaps too friendly given what I know now.”

I felt it when Crow bared his teeth.

“What will you do with Leo?”

“He’s a dead man.”

“No,” Phoenix protested, and I slightly turned my head to find him staggering over to us. He dropped to his knees in front of Crow’s face, his skin pale. “He has a family. I will not allow you to take him away from his daughter.”

“Then I’ll take his tongue,” he shot back, his body shaking against mine. “You know a betrayal like this cannot go unpunished.”

“You will not ,” growled Phoenix. “If you take his tongue, then I will turn every single one of us in for what happened tonight.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Crow hissed.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Crow. I’m not the same Bonecrusher you once knew. I came here tonight because you know way too much about me, things that could land me in prison for the rest of my life. I upheld my end of the deal, and now it’s time for you to honor yours. Who is behind these attacks?”

“I don’t know,” he snarled, fighting harder against me. “All I know is that the guy is related to someone who has an immensely deep connection to law enforcement. ”

“A name,” Phoenix growled again. “Give us a fucking name.”

“I don’t have one to give,” he chided, giving up and letting his limbs fall weightless against me. “But I can try to find out. Now that I know the Ravens are behind the drugs, I can do a little more digging into their background and their family members.”

“And how long will that take?” I asked.

Crow tried to shrug and failed. “I can’t give you a definitive answer on that.”

Phoenix scoffed, pissed as he pushed himself up and onto his feet. “You have seventy-two hours and not minute more.” To me, he said, “Come on. We have somewhere else we need to be.”

I released Crow, then shot to my feet, following behind Phoenix as he began stalking toward the car.

“Bonecrusher.”

Phoenix and I paused, glaring ruthlessly over our shoulders at him.

“Welcome home, brother.”