Page 8 of Brave as It

“The matter is handled.” I can hear Thomas Reigns explain to my brother as I approach the top of the ramp. “I’ll have it cleaned up. This is no concern of the Hellions.” The way he’s calm and collected sends chills down my spine. “I’m sure you have watchers out. I’ve handled it. I’ll buy the property from the owner. Forget you were here, biker.” I fight back a laugh. The property isn’t for sale motherfucker and this man won’t be coming out of this unscathed.

I can see in through the window that has been shot out, the scene in front of me is infuriating. Calm in the chaos, I learned about that in the Army. It will serve my brother and I well in this very moment. Colton shakes his head, “oh, but fucker, it is.” Thomas Reigns has his back to me but doesn’t speak as my brother continues, “a concern of the Hellions.”

I move to better my position on the front deck causing Reigns to turn his head to me.

The moment his eyes lock to mine, I can read it. The chair, he finds it to be a weakness. He thinks I’m not a threat. He immediately dismisses my presences and turns his attention back to Colton.

“Diem is mine. Do you know what that means in my world?”

“I don’t care what it means. She’s gone.” He shrugs his shoulders looking around the space. I can’t see his face to get a better read. “She’s no bother to your club or to me anymore.”

I watch my brother’s face turn to stone. He hit a nerve. Diem can’t be dead. We aren’t too late. I refuse to believe it. I refuse to give up. Diem and Emmalee will get through this alive. Instincts take over as I ready my gun. I watch Colton move his finger to the trigger of his and adjust slightly as he sends the bullet straight to his target.

The bullet hits him, and his shoulder pulls back before he drops to his knees grabbing for his own firearm. I pull my trigger hitting his hand as he lined up with the back of his waistband. The bullet goes through his hand and into his spine. Exactly as I intended. I want him to suffer. For the pain he’s caused my brother, Diem, and Emmalee. He doesn’t get an easy one shot, one kill, even though both Colt and I are trained to do just that.

Colt moves in on him, “you should care, motherfucker.”

Thomas Reigns unable to get control of himself as Colt handles him, I wheel past them both going right to Emmalee. My hands tremble as I lean down to pick up her hand. My fingers to her wrist, I steady my emotions to focus on her. “She has a pulse. Weak, but it’s there.” Emmalee, fight baby girl, fight. She is most likely in shock since she’s unconscious. Twisting my chair, I move to Diem. She’s alive, her eyes holding onto mine as the blood pools around her. “Hold on Diem. Help is coming,” I try to comfort her.

Having trained in emergency medical services in the military, I know what needs to be done, but being stuck in this chair I can’t get the right position. Frustration builds inside me. Diem and Emmalee are both critical and the odds of them surviving aren’t good.

I go to work trying to get control of the bleeding for Diem. She moves to sit against my chair as I try to get things under control. Relief fills me as I hear the sirens blaring in the distance. I can hear the mufflers of the bikes approaching too. I don’tknow that Reigns is paying attention to the sounds given the way he keeps crying out in pain.

Colt continues with Reigns, “Where’s the money? That’s what this shit is about.”

And it is. Thomas Reigns and Paul Van Etten got in bed with the devil himself. O’Leary will be here for his money if he isn’t already. Those two knuckleheads couldn’t have fucked over a more dangerous man except maybe Javier Almanza from the Almanza cartel. He’s as ruthless as they come, but O’Leary and the Irish aren’t far behind him.

Reigns tries to get out of the hot seat. “I told O’Leary. Paul did that shit. I don’t know where the money is. I didn’t take that shit, he did, but set it to make it look like I did.”

“What’s O’Leary got going on in Haywood’s Landing?” Tripp asks entering from the back door with the rest of the brothers hot on his heels. “You can tell us, and we spare you with a bullet to the head to make shit quick, or you can keep quiet, and the cops will be here in three minutes. You go to lock up, O’Leary’s going to end you slowly, painfully, and behind bars.”

Reigns doesn’t say a word studying everyone around him. Some of my brothers go to Emmalee to access her while others come over to me and Diem. The ambulance is almost here, I give a squeeze to Diem’s shoulder. Please, I beg the God above in my head, don’t let them die.

Reigns finally speaks, “O’Leary doesn’t want shit moving through here. In fact, if Paul hadn’t stolen the money Haywood’s Landing never would have seen a single part of O’Leary’s business other than the money I moved for him through my business. He’s never once wanted to come here. We had a system. It worked. Paul set me up.” Before anyone reacts, he spits on the dead body of Paul Van Etten. “Fuckin’ bastard crossed me. Thirty fuckin’ years of trust he threw away to doublecross me. He thought he could run my business better than me. He thought wrong.”

Tank mutters to Tripp, “I’ll get word to O’Leary, he crosses into the Carolinas it’s war.”

Tripp nods which I knew would happen. We are the Hellions; we don’t let outsiders run shit down here.

“I gave you what you wanted, Crews. Get me out of here and not in a set of cuffs or in a body bag,” Thomas Reigns tries to negotiate.

I want to put a bullet between his eyes. There is nothing for him to leverage. I should have ended him the moment we arrived. Now, I have to stand down until Tripp gives the call to end him.

No Hellion wants war, but we won’t back down if he comes here. My dad, Boomer, moves to Reigns who is on the floor now holding his chest fighting through the pain that is no doubt radiating through his entire body. “Thomas Reigns, my name is Nathan Vaughn. I’m here to simply explain to you how shit works in our world. You see, this is my family. My son claimed your daughter, that makes her my family. You caused her a great deal of pain.”

“She’s not my fuckin’ daughter,” he spits out and the shock hits me. “I don’t want problems with the Hellions. I want to get the fuck out of here. I got fucked too, ya know.”

My father, completely calm, unrattled, simply strokes his beard. “That’s not how this works in my world. See, my sons aren’t my blood, but they are my sons. The men in this room aren’t my blood brothers, but they are my brothers. And what you need to know is there’s not a man in here unwilling to bleed for anyone else in this cut or the people claimed under the umbrella of this cut.”

Reigns red in the face with fury, “Fuck your loyalty family bullshit. “I gave you all the information. I told you whathappened. You have a code. I’ve heard about the honor of the Hellions. Now get me the fuck out of here!”

Boomer stands backing away from Reigns with his eyes to Tripp. “Clear the house, the ambulance will be here any second.”

I roll back as BW and Red lift Diem from the floor. Colt looks to her, “Diem Reigns, I will always keep you safe. Your pain is my pain, and I promise to feel every ounce of it.”

I can’t look at Emmalee. I feel her pain right now. Mostly, I am afraid. Once again, I have something good, and life is a son of a bitch ready to take it away from me.

“Mighty bold of you,” Reigns taunts my brother. “Then again, you think you have it all.”

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