“What are you talking about?” I shouted, pissed at him bringing me here for no reason.
He leaned back against the wall. “Forget about all the shit you and War think you know. You’re barely a heartbeat away from losing it. I’ve seen it before Hudson, especially after your dad,” he said, making my blood run cold.
Just before I turned eighteen, my father was involved in a drunk driving accident. He’d hit two pedestrians, one of them died, a young mother with two kids. I’d been so angry, so filled with rage I’d wanted to kill him myself. I hadn’t spoken to him since that day in the hospital.
My relationship with my dad was difficult, to say the least. He hadn’t been the same since we lost mom. His drinking got out of hand, his ability to hold down a job, and worst of all, the way he felt about me.
The beatings started when I was around eleven, it wasn’t much at first, a slap here and there. At first, he was horrified with himself when he sobered up. Until every last part of my father was swallowed up by the booze and the misery, and I became little more than someone to take his pain out on.
War did what he could, when I ran to their house to escape my father. And Waverley… she was the only other person who saw beyond the surface, who got me to open up. I was a different person around her. She tamed me, kept me calm, made me feel worth more than the punching bag my dad turned me into. The son of a convicted murderer.
Then everything with her got fucked up and I completely lost my shit. Drinking, fighting, women, I really lost my way when she left, ripping my heart out and taking it with her.
Ballistic brought me back from that. I could have got myself into a lot of trouble if it weren’t for him. He trained me, shaped me, showed me how to focus when things were getting bad. Most importantly of all, Ballistictalkedto me. For a guy who barely said more than two sentences at a time to anyone else, he became like a therapist to me.
Right now, I didn’t appreciate being handled. He’d always done it surreptitiously, without me catching on to where he was leading me. I’d gotten better at reading him over the years but my head was so far gone over where Waverley was, I’d missed it this time.
“I haven’t seen it in you for years, but I see it now. You’re about to burst out of your skin. It would have been misguided had you stayed with War trying to find answers.”
That pulled me up short. As much as it pissed me off, Ballistic was right. Iwason the verge of losing it. Connor potentially dead, Waverley having God knew what done to her, it was tearing me apart inside, only my training with Ballistic was keeping it off my face.
If they put me in a room with one of the Kingsmen right now, I’d kill him with my bare hands. Which begged the question, why did he bring me here? The assholes were just waiting for me like sitting ducks and he’d said he didn’t want them dead.
“You figure there is more King isn’t telling you.”
I frowned at him as he pushed away from the wall and took a few steps towards me.
“There is,” he said.
“What?”
“He has no intention of telling War, or you, what that is.”
“Why? If it helps find Waverley, or answers the questions over why the fuck they have taken her?”
“King is more than capable of dealing with this, without dredging up old shit.”
“That is bullshit!” I shouted.
“That is your President,” Ballistic’s tone didn’t change, even though I was getting louder. “And nothing about the past will help find her now.”
“How do you know that?” I run my hands through my hair. “What if something he knows is the reason why she’s gone and can help get her back.”
“When has King ever done anything he didn’t think through, knowing all the angles and having a plan?”
“This is different,” I shook my head, turning away from him.
“Some things he keeps close to his chest. There are things none of us know locked away in that head of his. I’ve told you before, he does what he thinks is best for the club, he always will, and this situation is not normal. War is his son first. He’s doing it to protect him.”
“You’re right, this situation isnotnormal. Which makes it even more important to tell him the truth. To tellmethe truth so I can find her!” I scream in his face. He isn’t fazed and that pisses me off even more.
“These guys don’t know a thing,” he told me, like I hadn’t just stepped up to him.
“So what the fuck is the point of this? You want me to take my shit out on one of them?”
“No,” he looked at me like I was stupid. “We need to find the officers. And I happen to know where one of them is.”
“Are you kidding me?” my mouth dropped open.
