I was being cleansed. It was the next best thing to sex. Before Ayda, it had probably been better. It was hard to remember what came before her, which made it even harder to imagine a life without her at all.
Kenny flashed briefly through my mind, forcing my hand to pull down on the throttle as I tore through Babylon with no mind for anyone else.
Slater stayed the perfect distance behind me the whole way through, until we opened up to a wider road and he pulled up beside me. I cast him a quick glance, my smirk evident as he gave me the middle finger he’d just been sucking on. I loved that fucker like he was blood.
What I loved even more was seeing him pissed at the fact that I was leading him out to the unknown, and he couldn’t whine in my goddamn ear about it.
The minutes flew by out there.
But as we rode out of Babylon and made the turns we rarely took, I felt the air around me grow tense and I knew that, even though he hadn’t said it, Slater could sense what was going down.
We were going to Gun Barrel City.
The home of the Emperors.
He didn’t say a word, not until we started to make ourway down their strip—the very place that changed all our lives just a few weeks ago—and I slowed to a crawl.
The bar they’d always resided in looked deserted when we pulled into their land, the dust from the unused and settled stones kicking up all around us until we were both parked side by side. In the daylight, the building looked even more ancient than I remembered it. Each wooden panel was worn and weary, the giant cracks in the material shining out as the sun showed all its faults like they were fucking trophies.
It was overused and under loved. Their absence gave it a sense of peace, like when someone dies and you bury them in the ground. They’re finally allowed to rest. No more struggles. No more putting up with shit they hated. They just close their eyes on the world and finally exhale, letting all their faults shine.
That’s what their place was doing.
It was shining, even though it was creepy as fuck.
“Looks clear,” Slater coughed up beside me, his boots skidding out along the top of the loose stones as he repositioned himself on the bike.
“Hmm,” was all I could reply with. My eyes were fixed and narrowed on the clubhouse in front of us.
“Mind telling me why we’re here?”
I shrugged, my mouth turning down as I worked my helmet free before hooking it over the handles of the bike. “Let’s just say I’m working on instinct here.”
Slater groaned, his hands rubbing over the tops of his thighs as he spoke through a heavy sigh. “That’s what I was worried you would say.”
“Don’t get scared on me now, brother.” I laughed weakly, turning to face him as I swung my leg offto the right andmade my way around to the front of myHarley. “You’ve never wussed out on me before.”
“Yeah, and don’t you live to fucking exploit that shit, Tucker,” he huffed out, hopping up and around until he was standing beside me again, his face angled up towards the Emps’ old base. “There’s a good chance this place is rigged, in more ways than one. Just because we’re in daylight doesn’t mean things can’t go boom.”
“Boom?”
“Yeah, boom fucking boom.”
“I like boom.” I grinned, gripping his shoulder and squeezing it tight. “But there’ll be no bang bang today. Pretty sure I beat the last breath out of their explosives guy.”
“Hernandez?”
“Apparently so.”
“Well, fuck.”
“Besides,” I said quietly, following his gaze up to the place. “I’ve got no desire to go inside. I’m here to check out the tire tracks that lead to their old storage unit back there.”
“Tire tracks?”
I nodded slowly, my attention falling back to him as I waited for him to catch up. It took longer than it should have. Maybe one of the whores had sucked the last drop of fucking sense out of his dick the night before.
“Tire tracks…” he whispered. “This has to do with those bikes we saw drive past the other night.”
