Scorpio dropped his hold on my neck, shoving Archer. “You fucking knew, and you didn’t tell me?”
His fists clenched, and it looked like he was seconds away from swinging on Archer.
“I just found out twenty minutes ago, so shut the fuck up and give the kid a chance to explain himself.”
You could see the hurt and betrayal in Scorpio’s eyes, but he turned toward me, waiting for me to explain.
But explaining things to Scorpio was nothing like explaining them to Archer. Scorpio was a ball of rage, where Archer just sat and listened.
“You got two minutes,” Scorpio growled. “And if I don’t like what you have to say, I’m going to beat your fucking ass.”
“Duncan,” Juliette intervened. “Let the boy talk.” She guided him over to the picnic table and had him sit down, motioning for me to take the seat across from him. “Go ahead, Dillon. I won’t let him touch you again.”
Every man in the place was suddenly surrounding me, and I had no other choice but to make my way over to the seat in front of Scorpio and tell them my story.
“I didn’t know it was your bike, Scorpio. If I had, I would’ve never stolen it.”
“Then why did you take it, Dillon?” Juliette asked.
I didn’t know if I could go into the details of my childhood again. I’d brought them up so much that it was starting to mentally drain me.
“It’s a long story, one I promise to tell you all as soon as I can, but the short story is that I used it as a way to bargain for my sister’s safety. I stole the bike in exchange for Beretta letting my sister go.”
“And let me guess, he didn’t,” Zodiac piped in.
“No. He didn’t. He had his men grab me and take me somewhere to be beaten. That’s when you guys swooped in and saved me.”
Zodiac nodded.
“They had every intention of killing me that day. I know that for a fact because I overheard Beretta tell his men that they needed to kill me and have me go down for the bike. They also wanted to make it look like it was your club’s fault. I don’t think they expected you to intervene the way you did, Zodiac.”
“And that’s why you were hiding behind our clubhouse that night?” Scorpio questioned. “Because the Hell’s Artillery wants you dead?”
“I know too much.”
“Like where my bike is?”
I nodded. “Joey said that it’s at their clubhouse. She wasn’t planning on having me save her, but I guess someone discovered her trying to sneak back into the compound and now she’s in trouble.”
I held out my phone, showing them the text from Joey. “Do you see that M? That means danger. My sister and I came up with it while we were in the foster care system. When we make the letter M with our fingers crossed, it means danger. When we uncross our fingers, it means everything is okay. She wouldn’t have sent me that letter M unless her life was on the line.”
“I could get some of my deputies together and we could storm the Artillery clubhouse,” Juliette suggested.
“Juliette, I couldn’t ask you to do that. This isn’t your fight,” Scorpio challenged, gripping her hand.
“It’s my job, Duncan. As acting sheriff, it’s my job to put the bad guys behind bars.”
“And the good guys too,” Scorpio joked, making everyone at the table laugh. Everyone but me. I was too on edge, unable to think about anything other than my sister.
“She said she’s with the bike. Where’s the bike?”
“At their compound,” I revealed. “I guess Beretta has been keeping it as a trophy.”
“Go figure,” Scorpio growled. “At least the bastard hasn’t chopped it up.”
“How many deputies do you have, Juliette? Ones that you actually trust?” Zodiac asked.
“Including me?”
