Spike’s Perdition (Saints Purgatory MC #7)

4. Spike

CHAPTER 4

SPIKE

“Must’ve been some night.”

It’s been several days since my drunken state got me into trouble. Not that fucking a bunny is a bad thing, but Glitter has made sure to let everyone in the clubhouse know how big of an asshole I am. I guess it didn’t help that she left my room naked, but that’s on her.

I glare at Jez, Soul’s twin. “Seriously? Even you heard about it?”

She grins and pats me on the arm. “I hear all, Spike. You should know that by now.”

“If you’re looking for your brother, you’ll have to come back,” I say with annoyance. “We’re heading into church soon.”

Her grin widens. “And that’s why I’m here.” I arch a brow, and she sighs. “Soul asked me to come.”

If Prez is inviting Jez to join church, there must be something serious going on. Jez might be a hacker extraordinaire, and she does bring us a lot of business , but she’s not a club member.

“Then I guess you might as well walk with me,” I grumble.

“Whaddya think I was doing?” she quips.

When we reach the room where church is held, we both slip our cells into the box, but she keeps her laptop bag firmly on her shoulder.

“‘Bout time you got here,” Soul snaps when we enter, and the door slides closed behind us.

“It’s her fault,” I tell him.

“Don’t blame her,” Grim signs, his movements jerky. Then he smirks. “And that’s fifty bucks.”

“You can get it to me after church,” Rogue, our treasurer, comments.

Jez drops her bag onto the table and lifts her hands. “Hell, even I know better than to not sign when the big man is in the room.”

“Fuck off,” I mutter.

“Ooooh,” Jez taunts and looks to her brother. “That’s another fifty, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Soul confirms.

Jez faces me and opens her mouth to continue taunting, but Malice stops her cold. “Sit the hell down, both of you. We’ve got shit to do.”

“Yes, sir,” Jez says.

Malice scrunches his nose and shakes his head. “No. Just… no.”

Jez sighs. “Yeah, heard how weird it sounded the second it was outta my mouth. I’ll leave all that to Apple.”

“Speaking of Apple,” Rogue says. “She keeps performing at Purgatory, and we’ll all be able to retire early.”

“Don’t know about the rest of you, but I am definitely not ready for retirement of any kind,” I tell them all. “The second you retire, life goes downhill.”

“Maybe if you had someone to share your life with, you wouldn’t feel that way,” Thorn comments.

I turn my attention to Soul. “Don’t we have club business to get to?”

Prez chuckles. “Yeah. I’m gonna turn things over to Jez because she brought this one to my attention.”

Jez moves to the opposite end of the long table, quickly sets up her laptop, and connects it to the large screen so we can all see what she’s seeing. When two images pop up, bile rises up the back of my throat, and white-hot rage threatens to turn my blood to lava.

“Jesus,” Possum mutters. “A little warning next time.”

The pictures are of two children, both no older than three or four, and both lying in hospital beds with casts and severe bruises. I don’t know who did this to them, but if I know Jez, we’re about to find out.

“Sorry,” Jez comments, fury in her tone. “But it only gets worse from here.”

“Who the fuck did this to them?” Malice demands.

“Oh, please tell me I can gut the motherfucker,” Grim signs.

“We’re all gonna get a turn,” Soul snaps. “Now, let her finish.”

All eyes turn to Jez expectantly. She’s staring at the images on the screen, a pained look on her face. As members of Saints Purgatory MC, we see the worst of the worst, and Jez has become an integral part of what we do. But we’re still human, and some things affect us more than others.

Like kids who’ve barely survived a monster… Kids like I was.

“Carter Maxwell is the piece of shit who did this,” Jez says, her voice monotone. “Fortunately, he was arrested. Unfortunately, that makes it harder for us to purge him.”

“Us?” Grim signs, eyebrow arched.

“You know what I mean,” she replies dismissively.

“How does shit like this even happen?” Fort, our techie, asks.

“It happens more than you think,” I snap.

“He’s right,” Soul agrees. “And when we’re done with Mr. Maxwell, there’ll be one less embodiment of evil on this Earth.”

“But he’s in…”

My mind spirals back in time as my brothers try to come up with a plan to get the scumbag out of jail to be purged.

“I wanna go home.”

The social worker looks at me with annoyance and shakes her head. “I’m sorry, Hunter, but you can’t go home.”

She’s just one in a long line of social workers who’ve taken me away from my parents. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, but I hate foster homes.

I glance at the cast on my arm and will my mind to ignore the pain. “I won’t stay with another stupid family.”

“You don’t ha ? —”

“Spike, you with us?”

I shake my head to clear it and level my gaze on Soul. “Yeah, Prez.”

“How long do you need?” he asks.

“Uh…”

Soul narrows his eyes, his disappointment showing. “We need a route to Wichita, Kansas so we can scope out the jail and see if a breakout is a viable option.”

“Right.” I nod. “I can have that in less than an hour.”

“Get it to me tomorrow morning,” Prez instructs.

“You got it.”

Church lasts another fifteen minutes, and then we all disperse. I make my way to my room to quickly come up with a game plan for whoever is going on the Wichita run. It takes some doing to avoid other MC territories, but in the end, I get it done in forty-five minutes.

After delivering it to Soul, I decide to head to Purgatory. The reminder of my childhood and the now burned-in-my-brain images have put me in a funk that only alcohol and pussy can cure.

And I’m not in the mood for familiar pussy.