Fable's Foes, page 29
part #2 of Grimm Tales of Smoky Vale Series
With jerky movements, he stripped off the symbol of our fraternity. He held it in his arms for a few seconds, then thrust it at me and brushed past me.
“I hope one day you’ll be able to forgive me. Just please don’t let this stop you from being with Fable. My betrayal is my own and not his.”
He slipped through the door and pushed it close. I barely restrained myself from burying my head into the vest in my arms and bawling. I didn’t recall this strong sense of grief, even when I realized my parents hadn’t just gone to a friend’s party out of town but had had no intention of returning.
I’d been relieved with their departure. My whole body ached for Zak, and I hated this gulf his lies had dug between us.
“Fuck, Booker,” Grimm said, his voice going soft. “You gonna be all right, man?”
I threw the vest onto the chair, already feeling the loss of it. “Why were you so nice to him?” I demanded. “You’re the fucking president. He betrayed the club. He could’ve gotten you killed, and you just let him walk out of here like that?”
“You heard him. He’ll be around.”
“And you actually believe him?” I paced the area in front of his desk. “You can’t fucking trust him.”
“You want to know why I wasn’t tougher on him? Because if you weren’t so deep in your feelings, you’d see that he’s sorry for the mess he’s gotten us in.”
I stopped before Grimm and stared at him in disbelief. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“No, you listen to me. I know he fucked up. That’s already evident.” He grabbed my arm when I tried to walk out on him. “Don’t get me wrong. If I never see his face again, it wouldn’t be a day too soon. He can never be a part of this club again. But think, Booker. Anyone else would’ve just run. He doesn’t have roots here. Nothing at all to prevent him from packing his bags and getting the fuck out of town and not give a damn if this Horatio guy gets to us or not. But he chose to stay and own up to his mistakes for the same reasons I didn’t pull my gun out from my drawer and put a hole in him the size of Texas. He’s in love with you, just as much as you’re in love with him.”
“What does love got to do with anything? He betrayed the club.”
Grimm’s hand shot across my face. “Get your head out of your ass, man. This isn’t about what he did to the club, and you know it. Be man enough to accept it. Loving him doesn’t make you weak. It gives you the strength you need to forgive this madness that’s about to make you all miserable.”
I blinked in surprise at my stinging cheek. If anyone else other than Grimm had done that, we’d be exchanging blows until one of us stopped breathing.
“You can’t mean to forgive him?”
“Not me, jackass. I’m not the one in love with him. I can say what I am because I have Jamie, and if he’d confessed what Zak did, I would’ve put him over my knees every day for a week and blistered his backside, but it wouldn’t make me love him any less because at the end of the day, he’s trying to fix it. Didn’t you hear the things he said to you, man? He’d rather put the bullet through his own head than let you do it just to protect you.”
I glared at Grimm, hating that he wasn’t making sense. He understood because he was in love with Jamie? What Zak had done was inexcusable. If that was what love made you condone, then I didn’t want any part of it. I’d rather continue with my cynical and bitter self than allow a lying excuse for a man to betray me again.
“Can’t say I share the same sentiment you do, Grimm. If you don’t need me for anything, then I’m out of here. I need to go for a ride.”
“Stay away from him, Booker,” Grimm warned. “And in case you’re wondering, that’s an order. Go for a ride, take some time to cool off, and if you still think you should be the one to handle him, then I’ll agree to it, but I won’t let you make that decision right now when you’re hurting and half-cocked. And for god’s sake, even if you don’t want to talk to me about it, you know you can trust Jamie. He’s a good listener. Or the reverend. I’ll excuse you from our church session, but I’ll have to update the guys about Zak.”
Grimm had lost his goddamn mind. Recommending me to talk to the reverend who I couldn’t stand. I wasn’t religious one fuck.
By the time I got on my Harley, my stomach was all cramped, but I slapped on my helmet and rode out of the compound. The taste of bile in my mouth stayed with me. I had no idea where I was riding. I just kept hearing the last thing Grimm said echoing in my head.
I’ll have to update the guys about Zak.
That was a punishment for Zak if he remained in town. He didn’t have to wait for me to pull the trigger myself. If any of my brothers encountered him, they’d confront Zak. Not all these guys were like Grimm, who seemed to have thawed with love and smelled the single fucking rose in a barren wasteland.
I told myself the numbness I felt at the thought of the Reapers confronting Zak was due to my own wish to see the job done myself. But if that were the case, why the hell did I find myself parked in the reverend’s yard? I didn’t even like the man.
I was royally screwed. Zak had fucked with my head, and now here I was at the last place on earth I’d ever have thought myself to be.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Fable
Since meeting Zak and Booker, I’d learned quite a few things about myself. For one, I was a lot tougher than I’d thought. Despite the tension at home with my mother, I was the happiest I’d ever been in my life. At least, I’d been happy until I met Zak earlier yesterday, and now everything was fucked.
I’d also learned I hated being ignored, which both my Daddies were doing to me right now. Zak might be pissed at me for calling Booker and recounting the awkward meeting between us, but what else was I supposed to do? I’d been scared he was about to get himself in trouble. Worse, killed, and I couldn’t let that happen.
I couldn’t lose any of my Daddies, and now it seemed like I was about to lose them both.
I was also stubborn as hell, and if my Daddies wouldn’t come to me, then I’d go to them.
The next morning, I had a quick light breakfast, ignoring the look of shock on Hans’s face that I was up so early. I showered and prepped a little. I wasn’t on a sex mission, but when I was around my men, anything could happen, and I wanted to be prepared for them.
I called a cab, then dressed, carefully selecting my outfit. Tight jeans, a dark blue shirt, and a blazer with the sleeves rolled up to my elbows. The outfit might seem a bit too preppy, but it was the best I could do from my closet. When I moved in with Booker and Zak like we’d discussed, then I could get a job and work on changing my wardrobe to what I liked instead of what was appropriate for the mayor’s stepson.
When I descended the stairs, the cab was already waiting. Other than a casual greeting to my parents, I headed out without telling them where I was going. I’d learned from Zak and Booker where the clubhouse was located in case I ever needed them. I gave the driver the address, and he did a double take.
“You sure that’s where you want to go?”
“Positive.”
He shrugged and turned around in his seat. “Suit yourself, but so you know, I won’t drive in. I’ll let you off a few miles away, and you can walk the rest.”
“Fine. Just take me there.”
I called Zak’s phone again, but it went straight to voicemail. Booker’s rang several times before the call cut off without giving me a voicemail option. I had a feeling he was deliberately ending the call.
“Here you go,” the cabdriver said, stopping the car a good mile away from the entrance of the clubhouse.
“Thanks.” I paid him and walked briskly toward the entrance of the huge double gate. At my first sight of the clubhouse, some of my bravado disappeared. The last time I’d been here, I hadn’t arrived of my own free will. This time I was here by choice, though.
“Well, hello, gorgeous. You sure you’re in the right place? Not that we’d mind having you.”
The lascivious way the biker stared at me made my stomach turn. I almost changed my mind, but then I remembered Booker and Zak talking about the Reapers. They were uncouth, and they loved sex just as much as the next man, but even when being crude, they wouldn’t touch without permission. Something about it violating the Reapers Code of Ethics.
“I’m here to see Booker.” I stuck my hands into my pockets.
“Wait a minute.” He gazed at me. “You the boy that traitor Zak and Booker took up to Colorado?”
The way he spat Zak’s name caused me to worry. “Yes, that’s me. Can you let him know I’m here?”
“You can just come right in, sugar, but I’m going to have to pat you down.”
I supposed I could bear his touch if it meant getting beyond the gates. I slipped through the iron bars and tried to distance my mind as he ran his hands down my body. Although his hands lingered a little too long for my comfort at least he didn’t grope. Just took his sweet little time about it.
“I’m going to have to take your phone. I’ll give it back to you when you’re leaving. Have Booker clear you, and the next time you can keep it.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem, hon. And you know, just give Booker an extra something, eh? He deserves it, given what that Zak did to him.”
Like I had a clue what was going on, I just nodded and headed off to the clubhouse with my heart lodged somewhere between my throat and mouth. Every step I took closer to the clubhouse, I wanted to turn back and run. Sheer determination kept me going.
The guy Cass was always hanging around was on the porch with two other guys I didn’t know. They were smoking and bare-chested except for the cut similar to Booker’s and Zak’s.
A low wolf whistle caught my attention as I climbed the steps. “I get first shot,” one of the guys said.
Cass’s lover laughed. “Sure, go ahead. With the mood Booker has been in, he’d cut your balls off. You know the fucker is handy with a knife.” He rose to his feet and turned to me. “You’ve got guts, kid, to come here on your own. Last time I saw you, you were running away and now look at you. You come crawling back for more.”
My cheeks heated, but I refused to let him bait me. “I want to see Booker. He here?”
“Yup, you want me to show you where you can find his rooms?”
“Yes, please.”
He turned to the guys and laughed. “Did y’all hear that, brothers? I wonder if he’s that polite in bed.”
“You’re never gonna find that out.”
“Oh,” he groaned. “And gutsy too. Some guys just have all the luck.”
He led me inside the clubhouse, and despite his words, I didn’t get a predatory vibe from him.
“I’m Mort, by the way. Or the Mortician. You can call me either.”
“You’re a real mortician?”
“Learned the trade from my old man.”
So they had regular jobs, then. I knew Zak did odd jobs for the club, running errands whenever he was needed. Booker worked as the bouncer at a nightclub and also at Grimm’s bar, and now there was a mortician. What did everyone else do?
I used to think all bikers just drove around all day, terrorizing people, drank, and had wild orgies.
We walked by a common area where more bikers were being loud. I kept my head straight to avoid seeing anything I didn’t want to.
Mort brought me down a hall that was familiar, and he didn’t have to point out Booker’s room.
“Well, this is it. If you ever get tired of him, that’s my room next door.”
A gasp sounded behind us. We turned around. There stood Cass, glaring at Mort.
“Fuck,” Mort muttered.
Cass took off his left slipper and threw it at Mort’s head. “You disgusting pig!”
“Come on, Cass, you told me it was over.”
“I’m not speaking to you!” The boy marched off in his one slipper, and Mort took off after him.
Shaking my head at them, I returned to my own troubles and knocked at Booker’s door. Feet shuffled. Then the door opened, and Booker appeared, dark circles under his eyes. His face was creased, his hair tousled.
“Fable, what are you doing here?” he bit out.
His tone wasn’t at all what I was used to lately. This was the Booker who’d abducted me and tied me to his bed, threatening to hurt me if I didn’t eat. This wasn’t my Papa.
“I tried calling you, but you kept rejecting my calls.”
He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. “You should’ve taken a hint from that.”
He disappeared inside, and I followed him, closing the door behind me. For a second, I stood just inside the room, taking in everything in his room, which had seemed like a prison when I was tied to his bed. But the memories weren’t all bad. There was Zak in the middle of everything, being the rainbow after the thunderstorm.
“I did get your hint. But I don’t care for the way you and Zak have treated me. Something’s going on, and I deserve to know. Will you at least tell me?”
Booker returned to his bed, pulled the covers up to his neck, and burrowed his face into the pillow. “Zak fucked up our relationship, and now it’s over. The end.”
I climbed onto the bed and ripped the sheet from his head. “You don’t get to treat me like this,” I snapped at him. “Like I’m not here. You swore to me. You swore that you’d always see me. Why are you pushing me away?”
He sat up in the bed, his back against the headboard. “What else do you want me to do? Zak doesn’t care. Zak betrayed me and this club. All this time, he was pretending to be one of us while working with the FBI. He was nothing but an informant.”
I searched his face for signs that he was making stuff up just to push me away, but the dejected slump in his shoulders, the hurt in his eyes…He clearly believed it, and yet I couldn’t believe it.
“That can’t be true, Booker.”
“It is. It came straight from his mouth.”
“Zak told you he didn’t care about you or us?” His silence spoke volumes. “He never said it, did he? And you know why he wouldn’t, and if you tell me otherwise, I wouldn’t believe it either. I don’t know what he did, but Zak loves you. He loves us.”
“Then why didn’t he come clean sooner?”
“Sooner or later? Would it have made a difference how you’d treat him for it?” I placed my hand on his shoulder. “Zak and I had a connection immediately. It took a while longer for me to know you and fall in love with you too, but Zak brought us together. You know what he did when I tried to kiss him, back at that first motel we were in together? He turned me down. Because of you. He couldn’t do it without your approval. Now I know you’ve told me a million times that Zak is the kind of guy who settles down with someone, that he’s possessive as hell, and sure as hell we’ve seen that. He does love you, and you know you can’t deny that.”
“Well, maybe love is not enough. What is it without honesty and trust?”
“It’s called forgiveness. Like I forgave you for the way you treated me at first.” I moved over and straddled his hips. “Please, tell me you’re not going to give up on us so easily.”
He cupped my face in his hands. “I don’t know what to do. I should hate him. Sometimes when I think about it, I want to hurt him as much as he hurt me, baby boy. At other times I wonder if he’s getting himself into more trouble, and I know he can take care of himself, but I still worry.”
He kissed me lightly. “And I hate him for what he did to us, but you’re right. I also love him. If not for Zak, I wouldn’t have had the capacity to love. He reminded me I had a heart.”
I placed a hand over Booker’s heart and leaned into him with my head on his shoulder. “I’m crazy about you. I’m crazy about Zak too, but I don’t just want one of you. I want both my Daddies. Will you please help us get him back?”
His hand came down on my back, stroking me. He kissed my forehead, then pushed his face into my hair, inhaling deeply.
“I wish I could, but I can’t. This isn’t just about me. It’s about the club, and Zak betrayed everyone here. He’d never be welcomed back, and I’m the enforcer. I can’t show favors because I’m in love with him.”
“Yes, you can. Love cancels out everything else.”
“Maybe in your world, but not in mine. We’re a club built on trust of a brotherhood. Zak has made his bed, and now he must lie in it.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Zak
As I stepped outside the motel room where I’d been crashing since last night, my phone rang. Thinking it was Horatio calling to confirm or change our plans to meet at the last minute, I was relieved when it was just Alan.
Thank fuck for my friend. If not for him trying to cheer me up, I would’ve probably eaten a bullet already. Who would have thought meeting him in the army and pushing him when he wanted to give up would have earned me a best friend for life?
Heartbreak sucked, even when I had been the one to cause it.
“What’s up, Alan?”
“Are you really going through with this?”
I sighed. Every time we talked, he tried to get me to change my mind. He’d go through scenario after scenario of things that could go wrong.
“I can’t back out now, Al. Besides, the sooner I get this over with, the sooner I can return to my life.”
Whatever that included. Since being stripped of my cut and shunned from the club, I was aware that Reapers popped up in my line of vision at odd times. I expected that as soon as I conducted business, I’d be collected and brought to the Double M or the clubhouse to face my trial. What trial? I was already guilty. They just needed to decide on a sentence.
Regardless of what had happened, I hoped Grimm wouldn’t require Booker to carry out the punishment himself.
“All right, if you insist. I should have some info for you later about the guy who attacked the mayor’s son.”
“Good. Thanks, man.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. You owe me one or a hundred, but who’s counting?”
