Page 2 of Property of Riptide
I head out of the room, turn off the lights and lock the door before walking down the hallway to my office. I grab a beer out of the mini fridge, turn the lamp on and plop down into my seat. I pop the cap off the bottle and have just taken a sip when the landline rings. “Motherfucker.” It’s my personal number so nobody else will be answering the call even though the last thing I want to do is talk to anyone. Ever since my conversation with the Dragons, my head has been pounding and no amount of pain killers has lessened it.
“Riptide,” I say. Not sounding professional as far as answering a call goes, but seeing as this isn’t a business line, I don’t give a rat’s ass if I sound sour or not.
A female giggles across the airway, which has me moving the receiver away from my ear and looking at it with disdain. Isn’t this my lucky day, a fucking prank call. This is not the day for some prepubescent teenager to use me as a way to fill her empty and boring life. “Tick tock, Mr. President,” the woman says. Now that she’s spoken, I can tell it’s a grown woman and not a teenager as I’d suspected. “There’s a bomb in your clubhouse. You’re going to blow, I wonder how many of your members you can get out in time. Better get moving, or you’re all gonna die!”
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” I chant, tripping over my feet as I maneuver myself out from my desk and rush out, running down the hallway, waving my arms through the air as I shout, “Everyone,get out! Just got a call from a confidential informant that there’s a bomb somewhere in our clubhouse. Get out!”
Time is a blur as the whole building shakes and walls start tumbling down. As we fall from the blast, landing on top of one another it takes me a minute to take stock of my body and start checking on my men.
Zoey’s bellowing, “Elodie!” has me crawling in their direction because Indiana looks fucked up.
“She’s safe, Icer has her, babe,” Indiana whispers, before his head rolls to the side. As he begins to lose consciousness, he mumbles, “if the Dragons wanted a war, they’ve got one becausenobody fucks with the Kings!”
Damn fucking right they don’t!
Slayer lifts himself up and lowers his hand to pull me up. With murder in my eyes, I growl, “That’s the first declaration of war. It’s time for us to react, brothers!”
“Indiana’s down!” I hear shouted through the haze of turmoil.
“You’re going to be okay,” Zoey whispers to him as he’s lifted up and placed into the back seat of the van.
I crawl in and leave Slayer behind to handle the fallout with the cops. Indiana is the only one out of all of us that has severe injuries and I need to be with him even though my attention is split between him and the rest of my men. He’s in and out of consciousness, when his eyes flutter and roll my way, I lean over him and vow, “Don’t worry, brother. They’ll pay for injuring you. Their day of reckoning has come.”
CHAPTER
ONE
Riptide
All of my phone calls are digitally recorded and sent to some sort of cloud that Booker set up for situations such as this. Indiana ended up needing emergency surgery where they had to remove his spleen and he is in a cast from his knee down due to fracturing. They’re also keeping an eye on him in case he develops clots. He was a goddamn bloody mess so I believed his injuries were ten times worse than they ended up being. And thank fuck for that. He was only recently released from the hospital where he was holed up for two weeks. He’ll be laid up for another six to ten weeks, if not longer, while he recovers from the trauma the explosion had on his body, and the clubhouse is undergoing extensive renovations, so for now, we’re using Indiana and Zoey’s living room as our temporary headquarters.
“Play that again,” Indiana requests as he leans in, tilting his head closer to the laptop Booker has sitting at an angle on the coffee table.
When the female voice begins speaking, a loud clatter can be heard from the kitchen where Zoey is busy making us lunch. “No,” we hear her whisper, only her voice sounds haunted, which has Indiana trying to get up from his laid back spot, only to crash back into the couch cushions and his crutches falling to the floor, adding to the symphony of our concerned shouting and feet hitting the floor as we stand up with the intention of running in there to make sure she’s alright.
“Zoey!” he hollers, “come here woman.” The frustration in his tone is chilling and has every damn one of us standing stock still, not wanting to add to his stress. “What’s going on?”
As she walks through the archway of the kitchen where it connects to the living room, she’s as white as a ghost. “Do you know who that is, Zoey?” I dig, surveying her only to notice that her eyes are stuck on the laptop and the female ramblings.
“Y-yes,” she replies, stumbling over the word. Her entire body begins shivering as if she’s been stuck in an ice bath for hours on end. Her teeth are chattering and tears are leaking down her cheeks. Icer, who is only humane toward a few people—Zoey being one of them, slowly walks her way, his hands held out as he approaches her. He stands in her line of sight, and as soon as the device is blocked from her view, she crumbles into his arms. My jaw drops when he starts running his hands down her hair, petting her and talking in low decibels that only the two of them are privy to.
It wasn’t that long ago that I had to drug him in order to keep him from strangling the life out of anyone who breathed in his direction. I’m not sure what special voodoo shit Elodie and Zoey have over him, but they and Letti are the only ones who, to an extent, can tame his murderous beast.
Indiana is getting redder by the minute as he struggles to reach his crutches so he can stand. “Help me, assholes. Don’t just sit there and watch me try to get on my damn feet!”
“No!” Zoey yells as she lifts up on the tip of her toes and leans around Icer so she can see her man, narrowing her eyes at him. “You’re supposed to be off that leg for the remainder of the day. That’s what the physical therapist said after your appointment. I’ll come to you.” She pats Icer on the shoulder as she goes around his large frame. “I’ll be okay,” she reaffirms, and when Icer’s shoulders loosen somewhat, she continues along the path that’ll lead her to Indiana. He winds his arms around her middle and drags her into his lap. She hisses, which has a smile loosening my lips. “Careful.”
“I’m being careful,” he mumbles. “Don’t like others making you feel better.”
“Neanderthal,” she quips, resting her head on his shoulder.
“Who was that, baby?” Indiana asks her. “Why did you look spooked when you heard her voice?”
She hiccups, burying her head deeper into the nape of his neck as she answers, “That’s my mom.”
The room erupts in chaos. Placing my fingers in my mouth, I release an ear-splitting whistle. When that doesn’t stop them from rapidly firing off questions in her direction, I do it again. This time, all heads turn my way and I snarl, “That’ll be enough. Give her a chance to process. Damn, what’s wrong with you? You’ve all lost your goddamn minds.” Properly scolded, they look lost for words and each sit back down, taking their previous spots. Glancing over at Zoey, seeing her peeking at me from thecorner of her eyes, I tell her, “Take your time. Whenever you’re ready, we’ll ask our questions.”
She nods her head, saying, “I don’t know what I have to say that’ll help you, Riptide.”
