His word was law. His word was gold. If he said it, you could take it to the fucking bank because Duke Abbott always kept his word. By making the choices I made, I had basically shit all over that. The wound went even deeper because while I angered and politically hurt my prez, I devastated my father personally. I didn’t know if he’d ever forgive me for making him forsworn, and my mouth dried up as I finally started to wonder if what I did was worth it after all.
“I swore to Indigo that she would be safe while staying here with the Crows. That no one would hurt her here. Now I’m a goddamn liar.” He stepped back from me, and I swayed as his disappointment washed over me. I thought, and not for the first time, as I bowed my head in shame that it was such a pity that he only had one kid left… and it was the wrong damn kid.
“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Duke crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes boring into mine. He stood silently, waiting to see if I’d word-vomit out excuses or apologies or justifications. I clenched my jaw and shook my head. He hadn’t spoken a word of a lie. Duke narrowed his eyes and nodded his head once. “Take off your shirt.”
I reached behind my head and grasped my shirt, pulling it over my head and tossing it aside.
“Kneel.” Duke spoke that one word, and my knees hit the ground.
“Uhm…” Indigo’s voice rang out in the garage, the only other sound now the stirring of coals and pops from the flames as Duke disturbed the logs burning in the pit. “Mr. President, what are you doing?” She looked from me in my position on the oil-stained garage floor to Duke, who turned away from the fire with a red-hot branding iron clutched in his fist. Her eyes widened and darted to Bones’s solemn face and then around the room. No one else batted an eye because everyone else in this garage understood that my crimes deserved a punishment. Club justice. It was the only way that worked with men like us. We all existed in a world where disloyalty could get people killed, and disobeying a lawful order from my prez was disloyalty. Plain and simple.
Duke stepped up to me, and for just a moment as he looked down at my face, his President Duke mask slipped, and I saw exactly how difficult and painful this moment was for him as my father. It was only for a moment, but that was all it took to see his agony before his shields slammed back into place and his cold, detached Duke demeanor returned. He braced his hand on my right shoulder, poised to strike, when Indigo surprised the hell out of me by yelling, “Wait! Duke. This isn’t necess...” Her mouth snapped shut mid-sentence when my head snapped toward her, and she saw the look on my face.
“It is,” I gritted out, my voice raw and cracked from thirst. I turned to look my prez in the face as I clenched my jaw. Grasping my hands behind my back, I nodded. “Do it.”
The iron made a hissing sound as Duke pressed it into my left pectoral muscle. I grunted in pain, breath coming in short pants. The stench of burning flesh filled my nostrils, and I could feel my skin blistering. Blackening. Everyone in the garage was silent, and the only sounds heard over my heaving breaths were the sizzle of flesh and thesnap, crackle, popof the burning coals. After what felt like an eternity but was most likely less than fifteen seconds of white-hot agony, Duke pulled the brand away from my chest. An image of a crow skull was now seared into my skin in angry red lines.
“Crows never forget.” Duke tossed the iron to the ground, kicking it as he strode out of the garage bay door and into the darkness. My brothers began to slowly file out the door, having seen Duke’s punishment and the club’s justice carried out. Ratched grasped my elbow and helped me stand, going into nurse mode as he guided me to a chair and handed me a bottle of water with strict instructions only to sip it. He reached for his supply bag so he could begin treating my wound. Bones and Cricket ushered Indigo to the door, the latter murmuring something in her ear while the former refused to look my way.
I didn’t want to fuck things up so badly, but I just couldn’t seem to help myself. My best friend wouldn’t even look at me, and I knew I had epically disappointed my father. If only intentions could matter as much as repercussions did. Maybe then I wouldn’t feel like an utter failure,especially knowing that I did what I did, and Istilldidn’t have concrete information on the threat Indigo posed to us. I didn’t, but apparently, others did. I wasn’t sure what she told them, but it must have made an impression on Duke, Bones, and Cricket because she was walking around a free woman and allowed to remain here despite it. It killed me to know they got the information when I couldn’t and were deliberately keeping me in the dark. I needed to get my shit together, make amends, and find out what it meant for Los Cuervos if she was here to stay.
Indigo
I tossed and turned in my bed, trying to let myself slip into sleep, but something kept pulling my mind back from the brink of dreaming. I channeled my inner crooner and sang myself a lullaby.“Without Me”came tumbling out of my mouth as I wrapped my arms around myself comfortingly, but before I knew it, I was almost to the end of Eminem’s song. I gently hummed out the last few words, butsleep was still a finicky bitch, and I was no closer to getting rest than I was the moment Bones and Cricket dropped me off at my door.
A hush had fallen upon the clubhouse the moment the last door closed after Priest’s punishment. The drama of the past twenty-four-plus hours seemed to cast a pall over the entire club, and everyone had either gone home or to bed as soon as Duke stormed away from the garage. I felt so bad for poor Duke; I hoped Lorna was holding his hand and giving him snuggles after such a heart-wrenching scene.
Duke hadn’t wanted to hurt his son, and Priest hadn’t wanted to let his dad down. I sent a silent prayer to Bob that the bond between them was only bent or battered but not broken. They were so lucky to have each other, it’d be the worst kind of tragedy if something as small as a lighttorture session came between a father and his son. Or a prez and his VP. Regardless, I hoped Duke was getting some much-needed comfort. Priest…well… I knew exactly what he needed, and it wasn’t snuggles.
I crept on my tippy-toes through the living area and over to the business section of the clubhouse for supplies before heading back up the stairs and straight to Priest’s room. When I tested the handle, the door was unlocked, so I ever so carefully opened the door to his room and slipped inside. I closed and locked the door behind me and turned to scan the room. His room was similar to mine, but it looked more lived in. Priest had pictures on the wall, small mementos lined his dresser and nightstand, and clothes were everywhere. It looked like Priest was a bit of a slob. I placed my tools onto his nightstand and gazed at him where he slept on the bed.
Shirtless, Priest lay sleeping on top of his blankets in a pair of gray sweatpants. He was on his back, his right arm up with his hand tucked under his head. Dark, thick lashes swept his cheeks, which were slightly flushed under the rough stubble that covered the lower half of his face. The bandage on his shoulder stood out in the darkness as my eyes swept over his broad chest, down to his inked and toned midsection, to the trail of dark hair that led into his sweatpants. I cocked my head to the side, taking the opportunity to really look at Priest in an unguarded moment.
I wasn’t trying to be creepy, but ever since he’d had a fit over me wearing his sister’s old clothes, I tried to avoid him as much as I could. Of course, I saw him daily since we lived in the same space, but I usually tried to ensure my eyes skipped over him and focused on the people here who didn’t hate me.I sighed, wishing things between us didn’t have to be this way, but he seemed dead-set and determined to paint me as his enemy. I didn’t want to paint him the same way; if I could paint, I wouldn’t waste my time on enemies. I’d be painting happy little trees and shit.
Anyone with eyes could see that Priest was an exceptionally attractive man, but he looked even more appealing while he slept. Sleep smoothed away the constant crease between his brows and his ever-present scowl, leaving his handsome face serene. Slowly, being careful to distribute my weight cautiously so as not to wake Priest, I climbed onto his bed and positioned myself over his hips. My thighs held most of my weight as Igot settled, about to give Sleeping Beauty exactly what he needed to wake his ass up from his enchanted sleep. And it wasn’t a kiss, either.
I gripped my butterfly knife firmly and placed it under his chin, careful not to touch him with the blade. With my left hand, I reared up and slapped him directly on his newly acquired burn and simultaneously dropped my weight onto his hips. Priest’s entire body tensed under me as he was ripped from slumber and his eyes snapped open. His first reaction was to grab my hips to shove me off him, but the cold kiss of steel against his Adam’s apple caused him to freeze.
“Uh-uh-uh, Growly Gus, I wouldn’t make any sudden movements if I were you. Wiggle-worming would be ill-advised right about now.”I wagged the finger from my free hand at him, urging him to make good choices and not test me. Priest breathed heavily through his nose and glared silently at me with eyes that looked eerily gray in the darkened room. I gave him a moment to acclimate to reality because I’m nice like that, and I didn’t want him to think this was a dream. I nodded, reassuring him that I was, in fact, real and not a fabulous figment of his dreaming imagination.
Priest lowered his hands and laid them palms up on the bed with his arms bent at the elbows, showing himself unarmed and proving he could follow directions.
“Good boy.” I gave Priest a smug little grin, and if looks could kill, I think I’d be dead on the spot. “Now, if you recall, the last time you and I had a little spat, I warned you what would happen if you ever touched me in anger again. Do you remember what I told you would happen?”
Clenching and unclenching his jaw, probably trying to rein in that fiery temper of his, Priest finally gritted out, “You said if I touched you in anger again, it’d be the last time I touched anything.” I settled my weight more firmly over his hips, getting more comfortable and giving my thighs a rest now that he was awake.
“Exactly. So which hand would you like to lose? Are you a righty or a lefty?”
Priest’s eyebrows rose to his hairline. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, Growly, I never bluff. Slowly turn your head and look at your nightstand.” Priest turned his head, and his eyes widened ever so slightly when he took in Ratched’s emergency kit of medical supplies. I had(ahem)borrowedit from his room when I was collecting what I’d need from the clubhouse earlier. I had also gone into the club infirmary to add a few bits and bobs to round out his supplies. Really, you could never be too prepared for an amputation.
“Now, while I do not bluff and amcompletelydown to cut your hand right the fuck off, I’m also not unreasonable. Tonight can go one of two ways, and I’m good with whatever you decide.” Priest’s hands started to slowly lower toward my knees as I spoke, causing me to dig my blade into his neck just a little bit more. If he didn’t quit playing with me, I’d end up skewering his Adam’s apple. The pressure reminded him that he wasn’t in a position to argue, and his hands relaxed back on the bed. “Okay, so, like I said, one of two ways. Option A, I sedate you with the handy-dandy thiopental I found in the infirmary, slap a tourniquet on your forearm, and cut that bitch off at the wrist.” My stare bore into his eyes, and Priest stared up at me. “Option B, which would be easier for me, is that you tell me why you hate me so much so we can work it out and get on with our lives. I won’t ask why you’re angry…that seems pretty obvious to me, but since I’m gonna be around for a while, I think it’d be best if we found enough common ground to get rid of all this tension between us.”
“You—” Priest started to say through clenched teeth before I could interrupt him.
“Have to be the most magnanimous woman on the face of the planet? Thank you for noticing, Priest. That’s very astute of you. I know Idon’thave to give you a secondary option after I promised to remove your hand for laying it on me. Like I said, I don’t bluff. Keep that in mind for the future, though.”
