Vicious Heart (Desert Kings MC #2)

34. Riley

thirty-four

Riley

Cam stood like a damn warrior, bloodied and beaten but strong. My dad’s gun fit solidly in his long-fingered hand. I felt better knowing it was pointed squarely at Preacher, not Merc. I’d hoped what I’d done to that friendship could be repaired.

But if not, I’d done it to save Cam and would do it all over again.

Ky Soletsky was tall with golden hair and a mischievous smile even in the middle of a viper’s den. Yuri was here too, standing guard at the back bumper. Sasha stepped from the car, fear causing her to move with quick, jerky motions.

“It’s okay.” I reminded her, taking her hand and leading her toward where AP and Dekes stood, several feet away from Merc and Cam—guns still drawn.

“I don’t know anything about your rules,” I started, surprised, when Sasha squeezed my hand. “But I have something to say.”

I glanced back at Preacher, who wiped blood from his nose and glowered at me through a swollen eye. I should be angry, but Cam felt enough of that for both of us. I felt sick, cold, and hollow. He would die today, though I didn’t want the club to bear that burden. None of them.

“My father didn’t kill himself. Preacher killed him.”

There were swears, shouts, and I was betting half of them didn’t believe me. Then someone else took my free hand and brought it to his lips. I didn’t have to look to know Cam was there, standing with me.

Jester, Drop Top, and Puck flanked Dekes and AP. The table, listening to what Archer’s daughter and a Russian hooker had to say. It should be , or strange, but our entire future hung on this moment.

“It’s okay, Sasha, you’re safe here,” Ky prodded from behind us with a gentle whisper.

AP nodded his agreement. Gone was the soft, fatherly expression he usually wore. He brooded now, much like his son, a violence awakened just under the surface.

She opened her mouth and shot her frantic eyes over to me. The uncertainty evident in the cold fingers that clutched mine. To her, these were the leather clad men of nightmares. Especially after what she’d experienced.

I started for her. “Sasha was with Archer the night he died at the motel. When his killer showed up, she and waited until he was long gone before she came out and called it in.”

“Your uncles know this?” AP looked right at Ky, ignoring her completely.

“One did. And you’ll understand why he kept his peace…” Ky gestured toward me.

“Sasha,” I asked gently, “who did you see out the peephole that night?”

“Lying whore,” Preacher spat from the ground beside me. When Cam moved toward him, I gripped him tight to my side. But Merc slapped him with such force the old man staggered on his knees.

“Sasha?” I asked again.

She pointed to Preacher. “It was that man.”

“You sure?” AP asked.

“I saw him through the door and recognized his voice. They argued about money while I hid in the bathroom. Then he shot him. I waited until I heard him ride away. But when I came out…” She choked on a sob as I clung to her hand. “He was, he was gone.”

“And you’re just now telling us, why?” Dekes asked without any sort of aggression, and Preacher mumbled arguments at the rest of the guys who watched.

“What would happen to a whore who accused the president of the Desert Kings of murder?” She was more confident with each word. “It would cause war with the men I owe my life to.”

Not looking at the body in the dirt near Merc, I searched the crowd. Those who’d rushed to Preacher’s side were angling in a different direction now. Even Kenna’s ex, Ghost, was moving closer to Dekes and AP.

A tall, bald biker from a different charter took Merc’s place. It was only then I realized he was no longer fending off the rest of the club and had his pistol trained on Preacher.

Cam left my side as he, Merc, and the rest of the table stood in a small circle. Ky led Sasha back to the car, shutting the door and leaning against it to watch the show with Yuri.

“You’ve created quite the scene,” he said, sounding amused.

“Yeah, well, I think it had to happen.” Nervous, I rubbed my hands together.

Cam had shoved the pistol in his waist and watched me over AP’s shoulder. I’m sure he listened, but the way he studied me was soothing. I was safe, even from this distance, so long as he was there.

I’d never forget the way he flew into Preacher, the violent way he’d hit him. He’d held that anger for as long as he’d known me. It had hidden inside, while on the outside he’d been my everything. I owed him for that. I only hoped this would be enough.

“What do you think they’re saying?” Ky asked, pulling a bag of candy from his pocket and shaking out a few pieces.

The other guys milled around their bikes now, less confused and more shocked, as they waited on the table to decide Preacher’s fate.

My heart beat a nervous rhythm until I saw Drop Top break off. His short, rigid as he spat in the dirt and stormed off to his bike, hopping on and peeling out of the driveway. A handful of guys followed him.

“Stand up,” AP said to Preacher.

The big man obeyed, his body trembling—not with fear, but with hate. Every part of him looked past AP to Cam. AP ripped the president patch from Preacher’s cut, pocketed it, then said something so low I couldn’t hear it.

Whatever it was made the beefy man even angrier. He sputtered, blood and spittle hanging from his handlebar mustache.

“You little, lying piece of shit,” Preacher growled at Cam.

“Nah.” Cam shook his head. “I didn’t murder my best friend because I have a gambling addiction. But that cash? It was right under your fucking nose.”

Preacher spat in his face. Then dove for his gun as Cam stumbled, wiping the blood from his eyes. But he didn’t point it at Cam. No, that wouldn’t cause the pain he wanted. He knew he was going to die.

He was going to kill me first.

There was a moment of stillness where I accepted my fate. That this man, his face all busted from the hands of the man I loved, would kill me just as he had my father. But worse, Cam would watch him do it.

One shot. Two. Three echoed across the desert as I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting on the pain. Then five more in rapid succession, so loud that my ears felt like they might explode.

When no pain came, I opened my eyes. Cam stood arm out, Archer’s chrome pistol shining in the rays of sunshine that broke through over the horizon.

The big man’s body lay crumpled on the ground.

I was alive.

He wasn’t.

Gravel crunched under my feet as I ran to Cam, throwing my arms around his middle and holding on with everything I had. Around us there was a flurry of activity, Ky and his crew leaving, some of the Kings as well. Funny how surrounded by gangsters I hadn’t been scared at all. But now, my body gave and my stomach pitched. Had Cam not held me upright, I would have crumbled to the ground.

It was over.

Then he sighed once, heavy and laden with all the emotions of the day. “You come up with all of this?”

“This morning, yeah,” I mumbled against him, not caring that his shirt was caked with dried blood and dirt, or that he’d just killed a man.

“Jesus. What could you have done if I gave you a week?”

“You don’t want to know.” Merc snorted.

I didn’t need to look up to know Cam was glaring at him. He’d gone rigid, his body hard. “You owe me.” Cam’s voice was low, scratchy from the shouting and screaming.

“I know.” Merc turned back to his father.

I looked then, watching AP issue orders. Some guys left to perform some sort of duty. The rest hovered around the two bodies.

I didn’t look, didn’t need to. Preacher couldn’t hurt us anymore.

“Come on.” Cam took my hand and led me toward my dad’s bike. I watched as he threw his leg over and kicked down on the old school kick-start. He was gesturing me onto the back, when AP waved him over. Cam rolled across the driveway and pulled to a stop in front of the old man.

“There’s a cut on the table in the chapel. Go put it on, son.”

Cam closed his eyes, turned his face up toward the sky, and grinned. “You sure about that?”

“With every fiber of my damn being. Never should have taken it off.” AP extended his hand.

Cam shook it, pulling him into a hug. There was brotherhood here, something Preacher had always been on the outside of…because he’d never understood the Desert Kings were about more than one man.

It was all of them.

I couldn’t take Cam from that, wouldn’t.

“Let’s go home,” I shouted, hugging him around his middle.

AP patted my shoulder as Cam turned the bike and rocketed down the driveway, putting distance between us and what had happened.

For the first time since my mom got sick, I was hopeful about the future. For my life. I had Cam.