Smother, page 11
I shake my head, unsure if it’s to let him know I’m suffocating or to tell him I can’t leave. He sighs. “You can go stay with your mom, she’d like that, and I can make sure we have patrols running by on the regular. I sent my wife and kids away so you can even stay at my place, or I can lock you in the jail, whatever you want. Just please don’t make me have to find your body.”
I look over my shoulder, meeting the hard eyes of every wolf. They’re all looking at me in the exact same way. I turn back to Chief and pull the concrete-laced air into my petrified lungs. “I’m going to need a minute to stop being sucker punched before I make any decisions.”
His head shakes. “I’m not sure you have a minute. I have the state police here already and the FBI is sending a team, but people are dying faster than we can drive from one side of town to the other. And what I’m seeing out there, Tessa, honey, it ain’t anything you can survive if you keep yourself on their side.”
I step away from him, not in the state of mind to lace my boots up properly let alone make a decision to walk out on the club. To turn on them once more after all I’ve already done. “Tessa,” Chief growls. “You are not this naive. Do I need to tell you about the trophies being kept? Huh? Will it help you make the right decision to hear that I half expected to come in here and find a warehouse full of body parts? Because I did. The freshest being Sally Jane’s tongue and your boyfriend’s heart. Oh, and his head, too. So far, that’s all we know is missing but if you’re still alive when he’s finally reconstructed, I’ll give you an update on what else isn’t there.”
I stumble backward. Warren catches me, strained voice on the edge of an anger I’ve rarely encountered from Warren. “Time for you to go, Chief.”
“I’ll go when I’m good and ready,” Chief snaps at him, eyes back on me. “Don’t make the wrong choice.”
I brush at Warren’s hands. All I want to do is make whichever decision will end all of this, and there’s only one I can think of. “I need one more minute with Chief. Please.”
Warren doesn’t let go of me. “Take it. I’ll be right here while you do.”
I latch onto Chief’s shirt before he argues about what neither of us will easily change. I pull him down to me, my mouth pressing to his ear the way he did with me earlier. “When you leave here today, go check on Marcie. She’s back at her mom’s place. Make sure Jimmy isn’t sleeping on the job because when this is all over, Warren is going to need her.” I let go of him. “Promise me.”
He stands up straight, sorrow in every movement as he wipes his brow. “I can’t deny a dying wish, now can I? So yeah, I promise.”
~
Warren
Tessa’s tears are stoking the flames of an anger I can’t get rid of. It’s building to the point of smothering me, an inferno that will soon be raging out of control if fuel doesn’t stop being added to it. I put my eyes back on the man responsible for this particular dousing. Chief and I have never gotten along. He labeled me as trouble the minute I was born, simply because my mom was a town drunk and my dad the kind of hustler who pretended to be a handyman but never met a job he didn’t walk away from. The only ones he even attempted to complete were the ones people wouldn’t pay him for in advance. He’d show up, pretend to know what he was doing for a few hours, and when he realized there would be no cash for him at the end of the day, he’d bail and yell at Mom, as if his laziness was her fault. It wasn’t. She was only responsible for her own pathetic life choices. Me, I was responsible for both my parents.
Too many times, I’d go do whatever manual labor Dad was supposed to have done, collect the money and take it directly to the water or power company, whichever debt we were most behind on paying. Sometimes there was enough money left over to buy food that wasn’t in the clearance basket at the end of aisle seven on account of it being ready to expire, but usually, I’d sort through those quarter cans of beans and peas, looking for something special like a can of cranberry sauce. Four cans and a bag of rice were a week’s worth of food for the trailer. The potted meat was for Tessa and me. The crazy girl would eat it straight out of the can even when I’d steal bread from the cafeteria at school so we could have sandwiches.
Chief walks toward the front doors of the building, his two remaining men flanking him. They’ve been here all day, dusk already on its way. “None of you are free to leave. Every member and friend of this club is to stay in town, and the curfew is going into effect for males and females alike, so don’t let me catch any of you out when you’re not supposed to be because I tried to work with you on this, but time is up.” Saliva foams in the corners of his mouth. “I want the thing that dragged a body through my streets traumatizing my citizens, so you either cough up what shouldn’t even be called a man or I’m going to set a perimeter around this bar so tight that every one of you will drown in your own piss. Dead or alive, I want Chopper.”
“I don’t think he swings your way,” Gary replies, shaking a cigarette from a pack that’s the only remnant we have of Chopper. Everything else was bagged and burned, his apartment scrubbed clean and that gorgeous Mamba sank in the river. Tessa begged to be allowed to keep a single t-shirt but the club denied that request, unwilling to give the police anything with Chopper’s DNA or scent on it. As I stand here today, I don’t even know his true identity. Unlike Matt, I didn’t question who Chopper was when I saw him with Tessa, I accepted that he was Gary’s man. But Chief is right that Chopper isn’t a man. He’s not even a ghost. He’s an avenging demon.
Gary runs the cigarette under his nose, a taunt that would have Chief even more fit to be tied than he already is if he had any idea who those cigarettes belonged to. “This town was traumatized before a child molester was executed, and it seems to me those citizens you’re not protecting are going to have something to say about that when they go to elect the next mayor, who in turn appoints their police chief.” He puts the cigarette on the table in front of him. “Being one of those citizens, I imagine I’ll vote for a mayor with enough backbone to appoint a police chief who knows how to take action.”
Chief’s face flames. “You go right ahead and put your hat in the ring for becoming the chief, mayor, or heck, you can even run for governor of this whole state, because no one in their right mind will ever elect the likes of you or any other person associated with this club, and I’ll personally see to it that every law-abiding citizen is in their right mind and showing up on election day.”
Gary nods. “You do that. The descendants will be there to protect your rights, since it looks like you’ll soon only have wolves left in this town.”
Chief places a hand on his service belt. “Is that a threat?”
Gary chuckles. “With the warning that was left at the mouth of your town, maybe your killer will tuck tail and run. I bet a line being drawn in flesh like that is just the sort of thing that weeds out the bad and the weak, and keeps any more of that unsavory lot from coming this way. So maybe our town is saved from the sadists after all.”
Chief’s eyes narrow. Not on Gary, but Tessa. “The only sadists this town has are right here in this room, and the sooner good people realize that, the better.”
~18~
It’s hot in this room and worse inside my own skin. Sweat covers my brow and breaks across my back. I feel it run down my spine and coat the waistband of my jeans. I shift, making sure my pistol isn’t sitting in a pool of slippery sweat because Montrose is making his move and Tessa is right in the middle of where I didn’t want her to be when this club war popped off.
After Chief stormed out, I attempted to remove her from the dining room but Montrose got to his feet and began speaking as if the club was in church. I was bound by duty to stop and listen, and bound by the responsibility of not carelessly taking actions that will draw more attention to Tessa than she already has on her. Chief shouldn’t have singled her out in front of everyone, and he shouldn’t have had her crying and groping at him. Her actions toward him once again made her look unfaithful to the club, and it couldn’t have happened at a worse time.
“My brothers,” Montrose rails on like the preaching salesman he is. “Our club has always prided itself on staying clear of the law, but it seems that Gary’s arrest made the law in this town grow a set. For the first time in our history, we’re being forced to sit down in our own house. But are we wolves, or are we dogs?”
“Wolves.” All the men around me answer the same as I do.
“Do people tame wolves?” Montrose asks. “Do they get to train us to do tricks and make us come running when they call?”
“No.” We answer as one, my bones beginning to tremble. Soon, every man in this room will be choosing a side, and I have Tessa standing right freaking in front of me.
Montrose opens his mouth again and I watch his hands, the front door banging open making everyone look in that direction. I swing Tessa around behind me and then sigh in relief. Not a single time in my life have I been happy to see Beth but today I’m tempted to throw her a welcoming party. Rick is beside her with a scowl on his face and his hand clamped around her arm. “She wants to see Tessa and she’s having a nasty little temper about it. Does she stay or go? And if you say go, can I strap her to the back of my bike and take her home Chopper’s way?”
“No!” Tessa answers from behind me, though the question wasn’t directed at her. “Warren, move. I need to see Beth.”
“And you let go of me!” Beth thrashes against Rick’s grip. “Let me go!”
With a nod from Gary, Rick drops Beth’s arm and walks back out the door to take his place as guard. Beth stomps in my direction and I slide to the side so Tessa can speak to her sister. But Beth isn’t interested in talking. Her hand rears back and plants across Tessa’s face, making Tessa’s head snap cockeyed. “How dare you!”
Tessa doesn’t defend herself or say a word. She just stands there with blood peeking out from under her nostril. Whatever Chief said to her shook her to the point of numbing the little bits of the old Tessa that I was trying to build back up. I slide into place in front of her, blocking Beth’s access to Tessa, careful not to touch the evil sister because if I put my hands on her, I won’t be gentle. “Whatever jealous pity party you’re trying to have, no one here is interested in attending. And as you can tell by the fact that Tessa didn’t rip your hand from your body, now isn’t a good time for her, so run back to whatever hole you crawled out of and have your dad hire some kids to bury you alive.” Her eyes burn and her jaw goes slack. I fold my arms over my chest, daring her to swing at me. “That’s right, your role model isn’t here anymore. I guess you’ll just have to hire the kids all by yourself.”
“Warren, stop,” Tessa insists. “Beth’s upset and I don’t care if she screams at me. Let her get this out of her system because this will be her only chance.”
My neck tightens, all of my muscles aching from the strain of what’s happening around me. Tessa sounds suicidal again and Beth looks ready to make that wish come true, and Montrose isn’t going to let this girl-fight thwart him for long. He’s already annoyed with the interruption, Beth’s arrival taking the wind out of the sails he was only just beginning to puff up. And he isn’t wrong about some of the accusations he’s building up to lay at Gary’s feet. Gary allowed himself to be locked up. Then he stayed behind bars, each passing day putting his club more in jeopardy of being turned because any intel Gary gathered from the network of inmates he tapped into isn’t to be shared with the club. Even though he has a good reason for not sharing, it makes him look like he was just hiding on the inside while the club was out here fighting for the survival of our town. And honestly, I think he was. I think Sam dying the way she did, broke him.
There’s not a chance that I’m going to give Beth a window in which to hit Tessa again, but I can use this situation to our advantage. I drop my arms and reach behind me, bending my arm to hold Tessa against me. I walk backward, closer to the part of the bar where the top is split and the stairs are a straight shot down the hall. So is the exit. “Go ahead and shout, Beth. We’re far enough away that our skin isn’t crawling anymore.”
Her teeth clench. “I don’t want anything to do with you. What I want is my sister, and you better believe I’m going to scream at her now, later, and every day for the rest of her miserable life for what she’s done!”
Tessa’s head pokes around my side, responding in a bland manner that’s unbefitting of her. “What is it that I’ve done to you?”
Beth takes a step forward. “Come out from behind this wannabe wolf and I’ll tell you, because like the rest of these sick gangsters who murder innocent men in the street, he’s pathetic.”
Tessa tugs on me and I let her move to my side, hoping this insistence is a sign that there’s still life left in her because for us to survive, I’m going to need her to fight. “Gary traded up when he joined the Leidolf and Warren recently made that same decision. So instead of coming into their house and insulting them, just tell me what it is that I can possibly do to make you feel better because our streets are already filled with blood and we don’t need the river crying it, too.”
Sweat spills down my face, Beth is glaring at Tessa in a way that makes me a whole pile of uncomfortable. The others are tense too, all of us ripe to break. I pull my shirt up, wiping the sweat from my face so it doesn’t drip into my eyes and blind me. I drop it back down over my stomach and catch Beth glued to my torso. I narrow my eyes on her. “I already warned you about looking at me.”
She scans my body. “Where’s your kutte? Aren’t all of you mutts required to wear one?”
Tessa presses her hand to my arm and steps in front of me. “That’s enough, Beth. Warren is a descendent, so stop trying to antagonize and just say what you came to say because we’re all tired. I’m tired. And I know you’re upset over your dad but what’s done is done and the club doesn’t care about your feelings. You’ve always been right about that. They don’t care.”
Beth’s eyes glint, an evil I’ve only seen one other time flashing through them. “You mean they don’t have time to care? Because they’re busy murdering innocent men whose stupid daughters accuse them of lies? Or is that they’re too busy because they’re murdering women like Sally Jane, who you always said was trouble on a stick that couldn’t stay in its pants long enough to figure out whose bed it was in? Has she been in here stealing attention away from you? Is that why she was sliced open and used to decorate her dashboard?”
“Sally Jane?” I look around me, hard stares and pursed lips showing no one knows about this kill. I dip my head to Tessa. “Chief told you this? Sally Jane is dead?”
Tessa nods, blobs of tears shaking onto her cheeks. Beth smiles. “Oh, I guess I thought you all knew our favorite town snoop was sliced open like a Thanksgiving Day turkey. But if not, then I guess what you’ve been focusing on is those two cops who died. You know about those, right?”
I shoot my hand forward but it’s too late. Beth is too far away for me to break her lousy neck in time. “Brady. And Tessa’s boyfriend Matt. I guess this club really is progressive, what with the letting her cop boyfriend traipse all over the place upstairs and letting him record what goes on back there in those rooms. Did he have a camera in the sanctuary too, Tess? Or only your office?”
I fling my hand to Tessa’s collar and throw her to the floor behind me, drawing my pistol a split second after Gary draws his. Our eyes lock, the men around the room who aren’t standing getting to their feet. I don’t look at them. I keep my eyes on Gary, our guns trained on one another. His pivots to the right, Montrose’s scalp exploding before I ever hear the shot. I drop to Tessa. “Move! Now!” The war is here, and I’m choosing my side.
~19~
Tessa
Fear is a fickle thing. Mine hammers through me on an everchanging course. It wants me to stay, go, fight, and give up. Warren’s hand clamps around my shoulder and forces me to bend over. “Door,” he growls, pushing us through the hallway and out the back of the Grille before I have a chance to glimpse the stairs. He ducks us around the corner of the building and up the row of rhododendron, his gun in the hand that isn’t clutching me.
Halfway up the side of the building he drops to his knees and lifts a branch. “It’s tight in here but I’ve made it through so you can too. Go. Now.”
I shake my head. “Beth. Did she make it out?”
He lets out a curse and cups his hand atop my head, shoving it down and under the branch. “Go. Right freaking now, Tessa.”
The back door of the club clangs, shots from inside spilling out into the night because even with the silencers the men use, a gunshot is still a gunshot. The sound can be dulled but there’s no mistaking what’s happening at Riverside Grille tonight. The news crews out front come alive, their lights shining around the building and sirens going off in the distance.
I weave through the tapestry of rhododendron branches, hair and clothing pulling while Warren pushes in behind me. “I hollowed out the middle enough for us to move a little easier. You’ll feel the opening when you get there.”
I reach a clear space that’s barely large enough for my body and lift onto all fours, a thick trunk skinning against one ankle while another cuts into my back. Warren snakes a hand over my shoulder, cupping it against my mouth. “Don’t move or make a sound.”
I still, willing my heart to stop as footsteps fall over the ground behind us. “They didn’t get far,” a voice I don’t quite recognize whispers. It’s one of Montrose’s men but I don’t know which.
“That filly didn’t go far.” Bear’s heavy accent I know too well. “I’ll find her.”
Warren’s hand gets tighter, his gun hand slipping underneath me, the metal flush on my abdomen as he tenses, holding me in place. His words from before send a shiver echoing through me. He told me true when he said Gary won’t kill me, but that he’ll hurt me. However bad my punishment will be at Gary’s hand, the penalty for my many betrayals will be worse at the hands of Montrose’s men.
