Page 41 of Towles

“That means when she realizes it did happen, your ass better be prepared.” Beast revved his engine, and we followed him from the farm.

Part of me believed that April’s psychology background prepared her for what she’d seen me do, but I wasn’t so sure. Biting Paul’s dick off was almost as brutal as me shooting the fucker in the head. However, a man without a dick might as well be dead.

I slowed on the highway and then turned off onto an abandoned road. Beast circled around and stopped next to me. “Something wrong?”

“Go on ahead,” I said. “I’ll meet you at the club. I need to think for a few.”

Beast watched me suspiciously. “Sure you’re okay, brother?”

I nodded. “Something I need to deal with in my head.”

Beast put his hand on my shoulder. “We’re here, Ethan,” he said. “None of us has to deal with shit alone.” He rode away without another word because he understood.

I rode a bit further, far enough that I couldn’t be seen from the road. I climbed off the bike and dropped to my hands and knees, vomiting, tears filling my eyes. Mom and Dad were gone. Dad was proud, but I never heard those words. I wanted to hear those fucking words! “I’m proud of you, son. I always have been.”

That’s all I ever wanted from him. “Proud of you, son.”

I cried harder than I’ve ever cried. I wanted to be held by my parents one last time. I wanted to tell them how much I loved them. I wanted to hear them say that to me. But never again would those words be spoken to each other. The devastation hit me again and again, and I punched the ground repeatedly.

I pulled the Glock from my waistband and held the barrel beneath my chin. I turned my eyes toward the sky. With my finger dancing around the trigger, my phone buzzed, scaring the shit out of me.

I looked at the gun and tossed it aside. What the fuck was I doing? I then read the text from Skittles. Manning had come to the club and arrested April for Paul’s murder. A second text followed. A man showed up at the club, and Rose left with him.

The fucking roller coaster was on a downward slant.

I wiped my tears and blew two snot rockets across the ground. I shoved the other shit from my head and rode to county. Beast and Watcher were waiting outside.

“What the fuck is Manning doing?” I wanted to tear up the place, but Beast stopped me.

“Manning doesn’t have shit on her,” Beast said. “He’s trying to scare her. Waters is in there now, trying to bail her out. You need to stay in control, brother.”

“That asshole isn’t going to quit until he’s run us out of town.” I started up the steps. “Anything on Rose?”

Watcher nodded. "The guy who came to get her is the same guy she was trying to get away from.” He held out his hands as if to prepare me for the next part. “She went freely, Towles.”

“The fuck she did.” I reached for my Glock and realized I left it on the dirt road—a rookie mistake. “He fucking lied about something, and that’s why she left. She’s protecting someone. Me.”

As soon as I went inside, Manning met me in the lobby. “Where are you going?” he asked.

“I want to see April. Now.”

Manning chuckled. “This is my town, Ethan. I’m investigating a murder. She’s a suspect.”

“Horse shit,” I said. “April didn’t have it in her to kill that asshole. She wanted away from him. Why would she go back? Oh, wait, unless he forced her. Maybe you should have been protecting her instead of Paul. Maybe he’d still be alive, and she wouldn’t be in jail.”

“So she did kill him,” Manning said.

“Fuck you, Manning. You know she didn’t pull the trigger.”

“Maybe, but she could have bit his dick off.”

“You gotta be a man to have a dick. That asshole was not a man.” I pointed toward the back. “I want to see her.”

Watcher and Beast came in and showed Manning a picture of the guy who had picked up Rose. “You should be finding this fucker,” Watcher said. “He’s the asshole who put the hit on Towles’ parents. To get back at Rose.”

Manning took the picture. He rubbed his chin as he studied the image. He then called over his deputies. “Put everyone on this guy. Turn the fucking town upside down if you have to.”

“You let the Street Punishers into this town because you were trying to run us out,” Beast said. “This shit is on you. We’ve known about these assholes for less than a week, and already you have three people in this town murdered and another missing. Do your fucking job.”

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