Wrath (Dirty Soul MC: Long Beach #2)

Chapter 32

Eden

“ Y ou need to relax, worrying isn’t going to make the time go any faster.” Peyton tries her best to keep me calm, but nothing seems to be working. It’s obvious that Saul and Vike aren’t happy that they’re stuck here babysitting. They wanna be at the fight where everyone else is. The only positive thing about tonight is the fact that with the promise of the club being quiet, I’ve managed to convince Jenika to leave her room and join us.

“I should have tried better to convince him not to fight,” I say my thoughts out loud when the idea of him getting hurt becomes too unbearable. I’ve tried convincing myself that I’m cool about this but I’m not, I know what goes on at these kinds of fights. There are no rules. Wrath stands every chance of being seriously hurt, or worse. What was I thinking, allowing him to do this all over some stupid fucking business?

“You’d never have convinced him not to fight,” Saul shakes his head and laughs.

“Oh yeah, and how long have you known him? I don’t remember you being a member before he went nomad,” I bite back at him harshly.

“We may not have been at the same charter for long, but anyone who’s a Soul knows who Wrath is. He’s got a reputation.” Saul explains.

“What kind of reputation?” I ask, noticing the way Peyton and Alicia look at each other. Saul’s gone quiet all of a sudden too.

“Come on, I wanna know.” I get up from my seat and head over to where he and Vike are playing pool.

“You don’t,” he assures me and I snatch the cue out of his hand and narrow my eyes at him.

“I’m a big girl, I can take it,” I assure him.

“All I’m gonna say is that your boy can handle himself. He got the road name, Wrath, for a reason.” He looks at Vike and sniggers.

“Explain.” I hold the pool cue hostage while I wait for him to tell me more. Raze told me a little about how Aaron earned his name, but I’ve always wondered what happened to Aaron during the years we were apart.

“Rumour is, that after he left his father and this compound, he left behind his conscience with it. Word spread from charter to charter that he’d become unhinged, a lot of brothers claimed he was dangerous. But that's all in the past. I’ve come to know him and he’s the kinda brother every charter needs. We know Wrath can fight, and we know Wrath can win, that's what you need to focus on now,” he attempts to give me some reassurance, but my stomach is still twisting in knots.

Vike smiles at me and I steadily hand Saul his cue back.

“We should play some music, cheer this place up.” Peyton tries to keep everything lighthearted, but I can barely put a smile together and when the door suddenly bursts open and Dev marches in, I can tell from the way he looks at the other brothers that something’s happened.

He stays silent as he heads straight for Raze’s office, and both Saul and Vike stare at each other, and shrug.

“Hey, watcha doin’ back here? Thought the tournament would have gotten started by now,” Vike calls after him.

“There's been a change of plan. Boss asked me to stop by and get this for him.” He comes out the office with a black holdall and swings it over his shoulder.

“What kinda change?” Saul looks intrigued.

“We found Cliff.” Dev keeps his face blank and Peyton immediately stands up.

“Where is he?” I ask, feeling my skin turn cold. I move to stand beside Anita, in case she starts to panic and when she stops knitting and places her needles down on the table in front of her, I notice how her hands are shaking.

“It’s okay.” I do my best to calm her, despite being scared myself.

“You don’t need to worry. We got eyes on him. The rest of the boys got the place surrounded.” Dev assures us.

“What’s the bag for?” Peyton’s voice sounds shaky.

“This?” He glances over his shoulder. “This is Raze’s tool bag,” he explains coolly and Peyton sinks back into her seat, covering her face with her hands.

“Where’s Aaron?” I know that he’s gonna need to be in on this action, myself and Raze spoke about his need for vengeance just yesterday. I don’t know what's worse. The idea of him fighting, or him being reunited with his father.

“Your boy refused to leave the fight, he’s still there with Ruck in his corner,” he tells me with a slight hint of a smile and when I realize what Aaron is giving up for me, my heart sinks like a stone. After ten years of carrying pent-up aggression and hate, he needed to unleash it, and he chose me instead.

“I need to get to the fight.” I look over to Saul and Vike.

“Absolutely not.” Saul places himself in front of me as a barrier. “That is the worst thing you could do.”

“I have to tell Aaron not to go through with it. I don’t care that much about the business. Not enough for him to get hurt, and this thing with his dad.. it’s important to him. He needs it.”

“Don’t worry about that, Raze got a plan.” Dev’s smile reaches all the way to his eyes this time, and the wickedness in them puts a chill down my spine before he walks out the door.

“Just relax. Wrath is gonna kick ass.” Vike steps in front of me. I can tell by the look he gives Saul that the two of them are even more pissed off to be stuck here now. The whole club has been anticipating Cliff being put to justice, and I can’t imagine how Aaron must be feeling having to miss out on the action. My phone starts to ring and when I see Laura’s name flash up, I move away from the table so I can answer it.

“Eden, is Aaron at the fight?” She barely gives me a chance to speak before she asks.

“Yeah, he’s there now.” I look over my shoulder and see that Vike and Saul have gone back to their game.

“I have something I need to tell you. Aaron doesn’t need to fight in that tournament. I know a way you can get your business back without needing any money.” Her voice is erratic and very nervous, it can only mean that once again she’s putting herself on the line for me with her family.

“Can you meet me somewhere so we can talk?” she asks.

“That could be a problem.” I know for a fact Rocco will be on the gate, and there's no way Vike and Saul are gonna let me leave here.

“You're gonna have to find a way, Eden. This is important.”

“Okay.” I quickly hang up the phone and join the girls back at the table.

“Who was that?” Alicia yawns, and I finish sending a text to Laura telling her to pick me up outside the beach bar further down the boardwalk before I smile up at her. “It was just Laura, she wanted to talk over a design she’s working on.”

“That was a quick call.” Peyton is holding Anita’s wool while she continues working on the booties she insists Alicia’s baby will need.

“I promised I’d go back to my room and call her properly when I’ve finished my drink.” I surprise myself with how convincing that sounded.

“Sounds like the kind of distraction you need.” Alicia smiles at me sympathetically, whereas Peyton looks unconvinced.

I can feel my heart beating out my chest as I make more small talk with the girls and try not to make it look like I’m rushing to finish what’s left in my glass. Jenika hasn’t said anything since she came here, but she seems comfortable, she even smiled a few times while Alicia told one of her embarrassing Saul stories. Everyone looks up expectantly when the door opens and Rocco beams as he strolls in and makes his way to the bar.

“Relax, it's just me.” He holds up his hand and takes a barstool helping himself to a handful of peanuts.

“Shouldn't you be mindin’ the gate?” Vike reminds him, before taking his shot.

“Don’t panic, Corey got me covered.” He shrugs. “Any chance of a beer here, Polly?” he calls out to her.

“Prospects get their own fuckin’ beers and they don’t drink on the job. Ya know how Dev feels about Corey bein’ here. Go tell him to stand down and go home,” Vike orders

“Come on, guys, mindin’ the gate ain’t really club work, especially now that they got Cliff,” Rocco sighs.

“Cliff ain’t our only enemy, get back to work,” Saul orders, giving him stern eyes as he slumps off the stool and starts heading back for the door.

“Hey,” he stops when he sees Jenika. “How ya settlin’ in?”

Heat rushes straight to her cheeks, radiating her pale skin.

“Good, I guess.” She smiles as she pulls down on her sleeves some more.

“Well, it’s good to see ya out and about.” He grins.

“Rocco!” Vike calls over and when Rocco finally tears his eyes off Jenika to look back at him, he nods his head toward the door to remind him what direction to go in.

“Okay, okay. I’m leavin’.” Rocco rolls his eyes and with one last boyish grin at Jenika, he makes his way out the door.

“Guys, I’m gonna go make that call to Laura.” I use this opportunity to make my escape.

“You want me to come with you?” Peyton offers.

“No, we’ll be talking about fabrics, it’ll bore you. I just need to concentrate on something that doesn’t involve my boyfriend being beaten on.”

She nods as if she gets it, and I slowly start making my way to the door when I hear Saul.

“Wait.” He comes up behind me and I feel my stomach flip. “You ain’t thinkin’ about doing somethin’ stupid are ya?” His frown is as harsh as it is suspicious.

“I’m just calling my friend.” I stick to my story.

“Fine, but you go straight to your room.” He waggles his finger at me in a friendly warning. I move out through the door and take the steps up to my balcony without looking back. I know he’ll be standing at the door watching me let myself into my room, and as soon as I’m inside I call Laura.

“Where are you?” she answers, she must already be outside the bar because the sound of the music in the background is really loud.

“I can’t just leave here, Raze has the place on lockdown.” I pull back my curtain and see Saul sitting outside the club on one of the plastic chairs having a smoke, he seems to be looking directly toward my room. “I just have to be patient before I can make my escape, but it won’t be easy. Rocco’s on the gate.” I pull away from the window and flop down on my bed.

“Can you not just tell me what this is over the phone?”

“Not if we want to stop Aaron from fighting.” She makes a very good point. I thought she’d take some convincing to agree to take me to a place like that, but it seems as if she’s got everything figured out.

“Okay.” I stand up so I can assess the situation again and when I see that Saul has gone back inside, I quickly make my move. With Laura still on the line I rush out the door and across the balcony to the steps, then keeping my back against the wall, I move around the arch. There's a wall between the parking lot and the gate that leads down to the beach. It's dark now and if I stay quiet and move slowly, Rocco won’t see me. He’s far too busy scrolling through his phone to notice, anyway. I start making my way closer to the back gate and I’ve almost made it when the parking lot lights up with headlights.

“Shit.” I quickly crouch behind Peyton's car so I don’t get seen.

“What you all doin’ back here?” Rocco asks once the engines have been cut.

“We got the fucker.” I recognize Saint's voice. “Bastard was balls deep when we stormed in, ya shoulda seen the look on his face.”

“Where is he now?” Rocco laughs.

“Raze and Dev have taken him to the warehouse. They’re hopin’ to find out where Willow is before they end him.”

“It’s gonna be a long night,” Sasquatch mumbles.

“I take it Tawk is with ‘em?” I hear Rocco ask as the metal on the gate scratches the asphalt.

“Yeah, he’s like a man possessed right now. Raze barely had the chance to tie the fucker up before he’d laid the first punch on him,” Saint tells him, and I don’t waste any more time listening, I reach back and try the handle on the gate hoping not to make it squeak. Though squeaking isn’t what I have to worry about because the thing is fucking locked. I look up at the sky and take a deep breath. I have to get out of here, I have to stop Wrath before he gets hurt, and so I guess I’ll have to do what's necessary. Reaching for the handle of Peyton's car, I sigh with relief when I pull and it pops open. Then, as quietly as I can, I slide myself up and into the passenger seat.

I can’t get seen, so I keep my head down low and watch as the guys head through the arch toward the clubhouse. Rocco looks pissed as he retakes his seat on the old crate beside the gate. Luck really is on my side when I see that the keys are in the ignition, I guess there's nothing else holding me back now. Counting to three I start the engine, hoping that there's enough distance between me and the gate to build up the speed I’ll need to smash through it. And when Rocco looks up from his phone screen in confusion, I blind him with the full beam of the headlights and push my toe to the floor. I’ve only got one shot at this so I close my eyes and pray as I head full speed into the compound gates. The impact knocks my head back against the headrest, making my brain rattle and when I open my eyes and see that I’ve actually broken through, I have little time to celebrate. I’ve got a fight to stop.