Page 37 of All's Fair in Love & Chaos
“Left her at her brother’s. Needed to give you all my fullattention. What do we know?” Rogue asks as he joins us inside our meeting room. His hair is pulled back in a bun, his face fierce and tense. I know he’s torn, the fact that he wasn’t here, the fact that he’s glad he wasn’t at the same time.
“Widowmakers made a huge play for territory. A few days ago, the presidents of the top clubs in Washington State met in Oakhaven to discuss the threat hitting all of us,” Sin fills him in as I sit on the edge of my chair, my body and mind exhausted but focused. It’s been three days since we were attacked, three days since Saige ran out of here like a thief in the night.
“I knew that, then Chaos brought back Saige. Coincidence?”
“Don’t you dare fucking go there. She has nothing to do with them. She has a visceral reaction to clubs; she isn’t involved with the shit that went down,” I snap, my voice thick withwarning. My hands ball into fists on top of the table, my eyes squinted at someone I consider to be a best friend.
“If I could finish,” Sin says, looking annoyed as hell as he rests his big forearms on our table. “Pestilence, the president of the Widowmakers MC, took out several of the presidents while they were there.”
“No fucking integrity. Is it gone? Are we the last remaining few that have it? That’s supposed to be neutral fucking territory!”
“Seems that way, brothers,” I say, bracing my forearms in front of the Hell’s Heathens insignia burned into the top of the table. The weight of the room presses in, my patched brothers quiet, their eyes locked on mine, waiting. We’ve taken hits before, but this one wasn’t just a rival club sending a message, it was a declaration.
“The Widowmakers,Pestilence, came into our territory, hit us where it hurts, and left five of our men bleeding out on the floor. That’s not just disrespect, it’s war.”
Rolo shifts in his seat, the chair creaking under his weight. “Do you want us goin’ in tonight?” he asks, his voice low and ready for violence. He’s always the first to want action, the first to drop an iron fist onto anyone who dares to cross us.
“No. We don’t move reckless, that’s what they want. They think we’re too rattled to think straight, and I won’t make those mistakes again.” I look around the table, Sin, Malice, Rogue, Noose, Rolo, and Wrath nod. “We aren’t going to just strike, we’re going to cripple, then we end them. Let’s make them miserable first. We do it smart. Wrath, I want names, locations, routines, who they trust. Malice, start preparing the prospects. Rogue and Noose, get a game plan together for when we travel, we do sosafely, coordinated and tight.” But then I add one last thing, something that’s been eating away at me for days. “Make sure we don’t disturb Amberwood or any community we go through. We’re here to protect the peace and fight for those who can’t fight for themselves. We can’t do that if we’re fighting battles out in their streets, or orphaning children because of accidents.”
“Heard.”
“You got it, Prez.”
“This isn’t just about revenge; this isn’t a battle. We end this completely. They have no idea who they’re dealing with. We’re Hell’s Heathens. We’re brothers, we don’t forget, and we sure as hell don’t forgive. Everyone have their orders?”
A few nods and knocks on the table, and then everyone is up and moving. I feel a shift in the air, the fire and rage that burns in each of them. This time, we won’t just respond, we’re going to redefine the game completely. I learned my lesson last year: you cut off one head, two more grow back in its place. But if you cut it off and seal it with hellfire, they’re gone for good. We’ll meet them with fire and make them wish they never took us on.
“Where’s Saige?” Rogue asks, my spine straightening at hearing her name.
“She took off.”
“And you didn’t go after her?”
“My place is here!” I snap. “She doesn’t want to be here, and I don’t blame her! I can’t force her!”
“Did you even open up to her? Give her the human side of you,or did she just see Chaos, the club president whose heart is stone?”
“Everyone clear the goddamn room,” I yell, slamming my palms down on the bar top. “Everyone but you.” I point to Rogue as he leans back on his barstool, way too fucking relaxed for how he just spoke to me. The men leave, walking outside or back to their rooms or the kitchen.
“Don’t fucking call me out like that in here. I’ve warned you too many goddamn times. Show me a little respect, Rogue.”
“I’m Reid right now, and I’m talking to my brother, Camden. You just dismissed church, so don’t you dare give me that bullshit. You shoulder the blame for Lucas and Lena’s deaths, and let me make something clear, something I should have done years ago, and I’m sorry it took so long to do it. You are not responsible for what happened to them. They both knew better than to be out late at night and unprotected,theytook that gamble. The Iron Wolves took them and killed them. It was never on you.”
His words force emotion from me, like a tide being sucked out to see before a tsunami.
“I should have fucking saved them! I should have protected them, prevented it! I failed my own brother, failed Lena and you!”
“No, you didn’t. Lucas died knowing you loved him more than anything, that you’d have died in his place if you could have. But it is not your fault. I healed, Camden. I let them go. Lena wouldn’t want me roaming through that darkness forever. She brought Kinsey into my life, and I’m damn near positive Lucas brought you Saige. There’s no way that fucker isn’t somewherelaughing his ass off watching her kick your ass and challenge you every two seconds.”
I laugh at his point. It’s definitely something Lucas would do.
“I don’t know how to heal from it, brother.”
“Go find your woman. Love on her the way she needs to be loved, and accept it in return. The healing will come.”
The next few days,I live with Rogue’s words on repeat while I focus on putting my club back together. It’s easy for him to tell me to go get my woman when he doesn’t have the full story. No one but Saige and I knows the magnitude of how twisted and deeply rooted our lives are together. How can I ask her to be mine when she’ll never be able to look at me without seeing the man who’s responsible for her family’s death? How can I look at her and know what I’ve done?
So instead of facing my problems, I throw myself into putting the club above all else. Prospects have been tasked with clean-up duty, while the rest of us prepare to slowly hunt down each and every Widowmaker. We’re hunting them like animals, learning their routines, watching them as they come and go, taking their lives one at a time.
