Dom looked over to the doors of police station, watching, as did I, as Parker and another officer walked outside. Parker ignored me, like he hadn’t exploded my world to pieces the night before, but the other officer glared at me like I was the devil himself. Who knows? I might have been. Dom had spotted Parker, though, and it was as obvious as the pope is Catholic that he recognized Parker.
Parker got in his car—a beat-up silver Toyota Corolla—and pulled out of the parking lot, and I waited a beat before I gave my orders.
“All right, if you’re in then you should know that shit’s about to go down in a big way. Found out some shit last night, and I think there’s more to come, but right now isn’t the time to talk. Right now we need to follow him,” I said, nodding toward the Toyota driving away. “Now let’s get a move on before I lose him.”
I watched Dom carefully while I spoke, but the man was a blank canvas, as always. I pulled away from the sidewalk and my brothers followed me. And in turn, we followed Parker, making sure to keep our distance at all times, though I had no doubt in my mind that he knew I was following him—in fact I hoped he knew, but I didn’t want anyone else to know I was.
After thirty minutes, Parker pulled down a side street, taking a left into a dead end, and several moments later we pulled up at a small storage facility. He got out of his car and walked inside, and after parking, we followed him inside too.
Casa pulled out his gun and Dom did the same, because regardless of everything Parker had told me earlier, he was still a cop. I grabbed my gun from the secret compartment underneath my saddlebags, more than ready to use it if I had to. A friend of my brother or not, I didn’t trust cops. Shit had gone too far, and I needed to know the truth like I needed to breathe. I had a feeling that instead of setting me free, the truth would poison me. But fuck it, I was dead in the water anyway. My club and my brothers were all I had left. But that wasn’t enough. Not anymore.
With Laney I had tasted what life could be. I’d had something I didn’t even know was missing, and I couldn’t bear the thought that I would never have that again. My life had derailed the night Butch had died, my own guilt and Hardy’s words destroying me, and in turn letting me destroy the only woman that could ever save me from myself.
Laney was gone now, no way would she forgive me after yesterday. So now all I had to hold onto was getting to the bottom of this nightmare, even if it killed me.
I pushed open the main door and we stepped inside. It was quiet with no one around, the hallways painted a dull gray color. Shutters were down on the storage spaces, large locks preventing anyone from getting to whatever shit lay inside. After walking for several minutes I worried that we’d lost Parker in the maze of corridors, but then I saw the back of him turn another corner and we rushed to catch up.
When we turned the corner, Parker was waiting in the doorway of one of the storage rooms. He nodded for us to go inside and we did, his gaze zeroing in on the guns. He closed the door and flicked a switch, and then he turned to stare at Dom, not me, with anger and hurt in his eyes, confirming exactly what I had suspected since around three that morning.
Dom was the man my brother had been in love with.
Always knew there was something different about Dom—never suspected he and my brother had a thing, though. Didn’t bother me much, other than that Butch had never felt that he could tell me. The rest, well, it wasn’t any of my fucking business who my brother fucked or didn’t fuck. Or who he loved or didn’t love. In fact, it wasn’t anyone’s business, and I’d kill anyone who thought it was theirs.
Parker and Dom glared at each other for long minutes, with Casa looked utterly confused by the obvious connection between them.
“Something I should know about?” Casa said eventually, breaking the silence. His gaze flicked across to me and I shrugged.
“Dom? We gotta problem, brother?” I asked.
Seconds passed before Dom finally put away his gun and looked across at me. “Let’s just get this shit over with and get out of here.”
I nodded and glanced at Parker, who finally tore his gaze away from Dom. “You told me you had more information,” I said, slipping on the safety and putting my own gun away. Parker was armed, but he hadn’t once tried to reach for his gun. I took that to mean we wouldn’t need to spill each other’s blood. At least not that day.
“I do,” Parker replied tensely. “But I’m putting my neck on the line for you—for your club, Jesse.” He eyed Dom nervously. “For Butch.”
The air shifted, turning deathly cold in seconds, and I wondered whether Dom was going to blow Parker’s brains out just for mentioning my brother’s name. Fuck knows that if the look on his face was anything to go by, he sure as shit wanted to.
“So the fuck what? What do you want from us? Cash? Fucking dirty cops always after something,” Casa growled out.
Parker gritted his teeth and glared at Casa, and fuck me if he didn’t look like one mean motherfucker just then. Course, he was outnumbered three to one, so it wouldn’t mean shit for him. But still, I had to give a little respect to someone who still stood their ground when faced with three angry bikers. Parker had clearly come a long way since high school.
“I’m not dirty,” Parker snapped at Casa. “And you’d do well to fucking show some respect to the man who knows shit that could save your club.”
Casa stepped forward and pressed the barrel of his gun to Parker’s head. “Let me blow this fucker’s brains out, Jesse.” He laughed cruelly. “I’ll fucking deliver them piece by piece to your family, dirty cop.”
I put a hand on Casa’s arm, because shit was about to go south and Parker had information I needed.
Casa turned to stare at me. “It’s like that, huh?” he asked, sounding furious.
“He has information I need. Now go take a walk or chill the fuck out,” I said, hating the hurt and anger that crossed his face. “But either way, you need to back the fuck off so I can talk to him.”
He turned back to Parker. “Another time, pig.”
“I’ll be waiting for it,” Parker replied darkly. His gaze moved across to me. “You got my back?” he asked, and I heard Casa suck in a breath.
“I ain’t got shit for you until I know what you know. So you better make sure your Intel is solid or Casa there has got free rein on you. Now,” I asked, already tired of this bullshit, “who the fuck killed my brother? And where the fuck can I find them?”
I felt both Dom and Casa staring at me, probably wondering what the hell I was talking about. —in fact, definitely wondering what the hell I was talking about. Up last night, the whole club and everyone connected to it had believed that Butch had ridden drunk and crashed his bike. Including me. But now I knew differently and I was about to blow this shit wide open.
Now I had a new purpose in life. And my purpose was to find who had harmed Butch and send them to ground in the most painful fucking way possible. No matter what or who the costs were. Someone had to pay.
“The Razorbacks,” Parker replied, and his tone didn’t just hold sadness and grief, it was filled with the same regret and anger that matched my own.
Both Casa and Dom looked way ore alert after hearing that name.
“And who are the Razorbacks?” Dom asked, finally pushing his personal shit to one side to join in the discussion. Thank fuck for that.
Parker’s gaze shifted across all three of us, and I could tell he wasn’t happy about what he was about to say. “Cops,” he finally said, the words lying heavy between us. “The Razorbacks are cops.”
