When he guards, p.19
When He Guards, page 19
Javion was getting closer. Cass had picked a really piss-poor time for the confession, but it was too late to change things now. She doesn’t love me. She should fear me. I need her to understand that truth. Now. Before…
Before he allowed himself to hope for something that just would not, could not, happen.
“Your father…he was the former leader of the Night Strikers.” She’d dressed. Fast. Good. Because if she’d been naked when Javion came in, he would have needed to fight the guy.
Sweetness, I wasn’t kidding. No one gets to see what is mine. When it came to her, he wasn’t quite rational. Then again, maybe he was never overly rational. As to the statement that Agnes had just made…
Fun point. “Actually, my uncle was the leader of the Strikers. My dad was his second-in-command. Most people didn’t get that, though, because my uncle liked to stay in the shadows. He was all about pulling the strings from behind the scenes. He let my father be the public face. Let his enemies focus on my old man. And all the while, though, the biggest threat was standing in the dark.” Is the sonofabitch still in the dark? Because Cass had truly thought that he’d eliminated Winston Striker. Only Levi had sure as hell made him second guess that belief…
Levi had to be lying, right? But…a few details nagged at Cass. Made him doubt. Worry. He didn’t like to worry.
The biggest point of concern? Winston’s body had never been recovered. Still, Cass had watched that bastard go off the edge of that cliff.
He’d personally forced him off the edge, after all. But no body had ever been discovered.
“Cass…” A careful exhale as she sighed his name. “I read the report. We talked about this before. Your father drove into oncoming traffic. And I don’t believe that you would kill Javion. He’s your friend.”
“In this game, friendships come and go.” They were also often as fake as everything else in his current life. “As for blood bonds? Those don’t really matter. My father and my uncle were my enemies. Every twisted order that my uncle gave…” And Winston had certainly relished those sadistic dictates. “My father carried out with zero hesitation. No matter who he hurt in the process.”
And he had a flash of those last moments with his father. Those fucking last moments that were lodged into his brain. He’d been chasing his father down that long, slick road. Night had surrounded him. The flash of lights from other vehicles blinded him every few moments as his motorcycle ate up the distance between him and his old man.
He’d been so close to the bastard, after tracking him for so long. His father had glanced back. Then gunned his motorcycle faster. His father had shifted lanes into oncoming traffic even though the damn big rig had been right there. Cass had shouted out a warning.
Why did I do that? Why did I tell him to stop?
But there had been no stopping. The collision had been brutal. The sounds burned into his memory. The crunch. The thud. The shattering of glass and metal. The way his father had cried out even as his body slammed into the pavement. Such a twisted mess.
Cass had braked his bike. Ran to him. Somehow, his dad had still been alive. Nearly every bone broken. Some shattered. Blood everywhere, but the tough sonofabitch had still been breathing. Still…talking. Heaving breaths. Rasping voice. “You…think I don’t r-regret what I did?” His father’s face had twisted with rage and grief and pain. A face that had looked so very much like Cass’s own—just older, with more lines. More pain. The same fury. “You th-think I don’t…w-wish I could have chosen your m-mother? Chosen y-you?”
But he hadn’t chosen them. He hadn’t protected them. His mother had been gentle and kind. She’d been everything sweet and good in the world. And she’d nearly been broken by the Strikers. His father had claimed to love her, but she’d fled into the night, taking Cass with her.
And…
His father had never followed.
The truck driver had jumped from his rig. He’d been yelling and calling for help. Cass had put his hands on his father’s blood-soaked chest. A long hunk of metal—probably a piece of his smashed motorcycle—had pierced his dad’s chest.
“St-staying away was the…b-best thing I could…d-do...”
Cold, brittle words. Like abandoning a child was some sort of good deed. Give the man a freaking medal. As if…
As if you weren’t responsible for my mother’s pain. As if I didn’t know the truth.
Then his father hadn’t said another word. His eyes had closed. He’d died right there, with Cass’s hands on him. With the shriek of sirens in the distance. Cass had stared at him as pain and bitterness raged through him, and he’d thought…One down. One to go.
“Cass?”
He blinked. Focused on Agnes.
“It’s okay.” Her fingers squeezed his. Cass looked down in shock to realize that he was holding her hand. When the hell had he done that? When had he grabbed her hand to hold?
She squeezed his fingers again. Tighter, harder this time. “It’s okay. You’re not alone. I’m not going to run from you. We’re partners.”
“I killed him,” he said again.
“I saw his rap sheet. I know the things that your father did. The drugs, the weapons. The hits.”
Yeah, because his bastard of a father had been one cold-blooded killer. His uncle’s favorite weapon. Aim and shoot. Let him do all the dirty work for you while you stay in the shadows. Give him the orders, and he’ll do anything you want. He can take all the blame.
And in the end…
He came after my mother. “He let her go for years. My mother. Let her go. He let us both go. Acted like we didn’t matter. That we weren’t good enough for him to be bothered with us. I was two years old when she took me away. Ran away in the night. She started a new life. Just me and her at first.” He had flashes of that life, every now and then. The little Christmas tree in the studio apartment. The train he’d found waiting on Christmas morning. The birthday cake she’d baked and the dinosaurs she’d painted on white poster boards for him. “Eventually, Gray and his mom joined us. They had their own…issues.” He wasn’t gonna tell her about Gray’s father. Not an MC member. A monster who’d worn the skin of a hero instead. Pretending to be the perfect guy in society, but he’d been just as twisted as Cass’s own father and uncle. Gray’s story wasn’t his to tell, though, and, shit, it was hard enough to share his own past.
Cass swallowed. “My mom lost her hearing in an accident when she was a kid. She taught me sign language, taught me how to read lips—she was a pro at that.” He could remember when they’d gone to restaurants and she’d been able to tell him what people far across the room had been saying, just by watching their mouths move. “I used to think she had superpowers.” He’d loved his mother so damn much. “No one else could pick up a conversation from the other side of a room. No one else could watch strangers in a mall and tell you exactly why they were arguing without ever hearing a sound from them. No one else could…” Cass stopped.
Agnes sent him a soft smile. “She sounds incredible.”
Her hand still held his. No, correction, his hand held hers. But he made himself let her go. “She would have liked you.”
Worry came and went on her face. “You sure about that? Sometimes, I’m not overly likable.”
“What the hell? Damn straight, you are likable.” Why would she think anything different? Who had she been hanging with? Who had told the woman she was not likable?
She shook her head. “I’m pretty sure I can be a pain in the ass.”
“You’re my pain in the ass,” he groused. “And I like you plenty.”
She smiled at him.
Javion was heading for the main entrance. Cass couldn’t keep walking down memory lane. He needed to cut to the damn chase. “He let my mother go for years, and then one day…he sent a killer after her. I came home, and she was gone.” Cass hated this memory. They’d been happy for so long. His mom, him, Gray, Gray’s mother—hell, she’d escaped her own pain. They’d all been together. A family. Things had been good, dammit.
Until they’d been a nightmare. “I knew it was a professional hit when I came in. One shot to the head.”
“Oh, God, Cass.” She threw her arms around him. Held tight.
Had that part not been in the files she’d read on him? His profile? Huh. Maybe Gray had covered that up.
“Everything changed then.” Fast. Because he had to get the words out. “My world went to shit. Gray and I—well, I guess you could say our paths diverged. I turned to the streets. Gangs. Fighting. I knew I had to go into the darkness in order to find the bastards who hurt her.” A pause. “My father. My uncle. I had to get into their world and hunt them down. As for Gray, my cousin was meant to protect the world. He became a Marine. I became a killer.”
“Your father drove into oncoming traffic. How many times do I have to remind you of that fact?”
He drove into traffic to get away from me. “I cornered my uncle on a long, desolate stretch of road in Arizona. He was between me and my gun and a cliff that would send him to hell. There was no way out. He spun away after telling me that he’d ordered the hit on my mother because he’d learned that my dad was watching my mom again, that he was still clinging to the same old weakness.” His mother had never been a weakness. Nothing about her had been weak. My mom had superpowers. He swallowed. And maybe his hands closed around Agnes and he hugged her. “My uncle…Winston drove that motorcycle of his right off the cliff even as I fired my weapon. I hit him, I know I did, and his bike crashed. I stood at the edge of the cliff, and I looked below, and I saw the wreckage. I know my shot found its mark. I shot him in the back…”
Wait. Fuck.
“Cass?”
He pulled away from her. “I shot him in the back,” he repeated. “And all of these sonsofbitches are coming at my back. Fitting, huh? Or maybe they’re just following orders. I’m not the only one in the family who was—is—an eye-for-an-eye type.”
“Orders?” Her brow crinkled as she peered up at him.
“His orders. Because if Levi Addams is to be believed…I didn’t kill the bastard. Somehow, despite getting shot and flying off a freaking cliff, Winston Striker is still alive—and he’s after me.” He rolled one shoulder. “Guess that means that, this time, I will just have to carve out his heart in order to make sure he’s dead.”
Javion was pounding on the double entrance doors. No more waiting. No more time.
Cass swung away from her so that he could go meet the guy.
But her hand flew out to curl around his left arm. “Why didn’t you tell me that Levi had the tattoo? You must have known about it.”
“Yeah, I knew.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? And do any other members of your crew also carry it? If so, I want to see their arms. I have to see the tats. That tat is the only way I can truly identify the man who tried to kill me.”
“What if more than one person has the exact tat? You think of that?”
“Of course, I thought of that.” Her eyes narrowed. “I remember his height. I remember his walk. I remember the sound of his voice. I remember the exact way the tat looked against his skin. If I see the SOB, I will know him.”
He believed she would. He also believed that Javion was pounding harder out there.
“It was a very specific tat, Cass. The scales were the most detailed I’ve ever seen. A real Rembrandt of a tattoo artist made the design.”
Yeah…about that…
The tattoo is the key, and I can give her the key. But they just didn’t have time. Not for a full explanation. Not with Javion coming in. “Don’t say anything about the tat in front of Javion. We’ll talk when we’re alone.” Hard to get her alone, though, with his whole crew now about to swarm in protective mode. An attempted hit was made. They will be out for blood. Fair enough, he was out for blood, too.
“You don’t trust Javion?” She truly seemed surprised. Cute.
“At this point, I only trust you.”
Her lips parted. She let him go. “I think that might be the nicest thing you’ve said to me.”
Really? Then he should probably step up his game. He ambled for the door. “You’ve got incredible eyes. Each time I look into them, I feel like I lose a piece of my soul.”
“What?”
“Your mouth makes me want to sin. And your ass—you’ve got the best damn ass I’ve seen. Curved and hot. I want to grab it and hold on for the ride.”
“Cass.”
He reached for the door. Stopped. “And you’re not unlikable. Don’t know who told you that shit. You’re tough. You’re fierce. You’re determined. You’re also bloodthirsty, which is fucking sexy to me.”
“You…you’re saying nice things to me.”
“Yeah, I am.” When he never said nice things to anyone. But with her, he wanted to give compliments. Actually, he wanted to give her the world. Just to see those amazing eyes of hers light up more.
But he didn’t have the world to give her.
Though I am working on giving her the vengeance she craves. Because she wasn’t in love with a dead man…she’s in love with me.
He yanked open the door. Stood toe to toe with Javion. “That was fast.”
“Problem.” A muscle flexed along Javion’s jaw.
Why was everyone telling him about problems? Just once, couldn’t someone come to him with an actual solution? Was that too much to ask? “I am aware,” Cass returned with roll of his shoulders. “Pretty sure we left a dead man in a field.”
“The shooter took out Hugo.”
“What?” Shock rolled through him. Hugo was dead?
“And Axel swears he got a look at the rider with the gun. That he was on a bike belonging to the Western Mavericks. Not just any bike, though. The leader’s ride. That the shooter was Bayne Hendrix.”
Behind Cass, Agnes cleared her throat. “That name is familiar.”
Cass grunted. Damn straight it was familiar. “He was in Atlanta. He’s the prick who told me that Judas was coming after you.”
“That would be why it seemed familiar,” she murmured. “I thought you’d taken care of him already?”
By “taken care of”…did she mean beat hell out of him? Because he’d damn well used force in order to get the guy to cooperate with him before. He’d also ordered Bayne to get the hell away from the East Coast. “Apparently, the man is determined to keep being a problem. One I will need to permanently eliminate.”
Javion’s dark gaze held Cass’s. “Don’t worry, boss. I’ve got a ghost on him right now.”
Her feet padded closer. “A ghost?”
Javion’s stare cut to her. “It’s a name for an MC member who won’t be seen. He’s tailing the rider. He’ll report back and we can swarm on him when we have a final location.” He grunted as his stare focused on Cass once again. “Obviously, Bayne is trying for a power play. He wants you eliminated. Must have been working with Levi. Maybe he decided to fire at Levi before the guy could out him to you. And dumbass Levi just stood there because he never thought his partner would turn on him.”
Cass didn’t move. “Yeah, you just can’t trust anyone these days.”
Javion gave him a little salute. “Good thing you got me covering your back, huh?”
“Absolutely,” Cass told him. “But…” He reached out for Agnes. His fingers twined with hers. “It’s even better that I have her.”
Javion’s brows climbed.
Cass brought her hand to his lips. “My ride or die, aren’t you, sweetheart?”
“Um, how about me being your ride or kill? That’s better, isn’t it? Because we keep living that way and our enemies die?”
Yes, that was better.
“You staying here?” Javion wanted to know. “Keeping low until we eliminate this prick?”
“Do I look like a coward to you?” Cass asked, voice silky.
Javion backed up a step. “No, I never meant—”
“It’s good that you have a ghost on him, but I think that I know where Bayne is heading. I suspect we’re all going to the same place, actually.” They’d eventually, wind up there, anyway.
Agnes cleared her throat again. “Sorry, but where is that? Exactly? Like…is it hell? Are we all heading to hell?”
He kissed her hand again. “Pretty close.”
“I was joking,” she muttered.
“I wasn’t,” he returned without looking away from Javion. “You know I had a meeting scheduled in Arizona.” It was the whole reason he’d been traveling across the country. A meeting with the leaders of the biggest MCs in the US.
Javion glanced over at Agnes. “You’re really taking her? There?”
She sidled ever closer. “He missed the ride or kill part of our relationship.”
“She’s getting tatted,” Cass said. “I fought for her. I took the challenge. She’s in the MC, and where I go, she goes, too.”
“She’s a Fed.” Javion’s eyes narrowed. “You’re gonna start a war with her at your side.”
“Kinda think I already have started one.” He grinned. The grin slowly faded, though, as Javion shook his head. “She’s not a Fed,” Cass rumbled.
“No?” Javion was clearly doubtful. “Former Fed? Like that makes anything better?”
“She’s mine,” Cass returned. “Anyone who has a problem with that can go through me.”
Javion nodded. “Pretty sure that’s why bullets are flying at you. Because Bayne has a massive problem with you—and her.”
“Then I’ll just kill him and eliminate the problem.” Done.
Agnes elbowed him.
He kept holding her hand. “I have a meeting in Arizona. I won’t be late. She will be there. We’ll walk into hell together.” Finally, his head turned toward Agnes. “Ride or kill, huh?”
She bit her lower lip. He loved that lower lip.
Slowly, she let it go. And nodded. “Ride or kill,” she whispered.
He leaned down and kissed her.
Javion swore. “You’re both fucking insane.” He whirled and stomped out.
