Rock kicked, pulled, punched, and cussed as they tried to pull his pants down. Just as they were ready to cut them off him, the front door flew open and gunshots rang out. The bikers trying to pin Rock down leapt to their feet, scrambling to take out their weapons. Rock grabbed one of their legs and pulled it back until he fell facedown onto the floor. He turned to the door and saw his Insurgent brothers streaming through it, rushing over to him.
Puck handed him a small throw from the back of the couch to put against the side of his head to stop the bleeding. As he stood there, he saw Frederick pull Clotille’s leash, forcing her to come with him. Before Rock could react, she bit the asshole on the calf, and pulled back on her leash; it slipped from the fuckwad’s hand. She unhooked it and then hit Frederick with it over and over, chasing him as he ran into another room.
Rock started to follow, but he saw Wheelie, Bones, Blade, and Tigger pushing the rich fuck back into the living room. Clotille was still striking him like a crazed woman, and she was still naked. Bones took the leash from her hand, took off his T-shirt, and handed it to her. She put it on, then sank down to the floor sobbing.
Bones walked over to Rock, who drew his brother into a bear hug. Pulling back, he said, “Fuck, am I glad to see your ugly face. I was too damn close to losing one of my best possessions.” Bones winced and stared at the garden shears on the floor. Rock walked over to Frederick and glared at him. “You sonofabitch.” He punched him hard, smirking when he heard the asshole’s jaw shatter under his knuckles.
Bones went over and put his face a couple of inches in front of Frederick’s. “You don’t know shit about us. We got one law, asshole, and it’s, ‘You fuck with one, you fuck with all.’” Then he hauled off and slammed his fist into Frederick’s nose, snapping it.
“Fuck, man. We didn’t know you were an Insurgent. You shoulda told us. Copperhead didn’t know Frederick wanted us to hurt an Insurgent,” one of the Gypsy Fiends said. The one Rock shot had been taken by a couple of his brothers back to their clubhouse.
Hawk narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, right. Tell Copperhead he owes us big for this fuckin’ mess. I’ll be in touch with him. Now get the fuck outta here.”
“You don’t believe that bullshit, do you?” Rock said.
“Not for a fuckin’ minute. I’ll use it to get the price lowered and have them enter into an exclusive deal with us for future arms. I don’t wanna have to haul my ass back to this humidity for a long time. I’m aching to get back to my woman.” Hawk moved closer to Rock. “Speaking of women, yours is in a bad way.”
“Yeah.” Rock glanced over at Clotille, who sat on the floor, staring at it.
“You want me to go over to her?” Hawk pressed his lips together.
“Nah, I’ll take care of it.”
“Your head stop bleeding?”
“Yeah. It was just a gash, nothing major.”
“You okay?”
“Not really. Some serious shit went down. I was right about Frederick being involved with my mom’s death. Turns out Clotille’s brother and mine did the murder-for-hire. Fuck, I can’t believe it.”
Hawk whistled under his breath. “Damn, dude… that’s rough.” He pulled Rock into a hug. “You know we’re all here for you. We’ll make sure the fucker gets his ass dumped at the badges’ station. You go take care of your woman.”
Rock tilted his chin and shuffled over to Clotille, who hadn’t moved since Bones gave her his T-shirt. He knelt beside her. “Come on. Let’s go.”
She looked up at him, her eyes wildly scanning his face. “Do you hate me?”
He shrugged. “Right now I want you to stand up so I can take you back to Isa’s.”
“I couldn’t stand it if you hated me. I did the best I could. Would I have done things differently if I could go back in time? Hell yes, I would. But I was a sheltered seventeen-year-old. I didn’t know anything. I was scared shitless.”
“You could have told me,” he said in a low voice. “You chose not to, and you have to live with that choice because you can’t go back and change it. I don’t wanna talk about it anymore. I have some other things on my mind. Let’s go.” He held out his hand and she took it. He wrapped his arm around her as they walked out of the house.
And neither of them looked back.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Rock watched Henricross the street in the middle and head for the park. He’d been waiting outside Suzette’s apartment ever since Isa told him Henri spent all his evenings there, but never slept over. After two hours, his patience had paid off as he watched his brother disappear in the shadows of the cypress trees.
He quickened his step and soon he spotted Henri taking the path near the lake. He sped up and he could tell by the way Henri walked faster that he knew someone was behind him. Rock would bet the fucking wimp was second-guessing his decision to take the shortcut through the park. He was probably beginning to sweat, his blood pumping through his veins as he wondered if he should make a run for it.I want you to feel fear the wayMamandid, you motherfucker.Rock clomped his boots loudly on the pavement just to make Henri shit his pants.
Henri whirled around, his eyes bulging and his chest heaving up and down. “What do you want—” He stopped short, then recognition spread over his face and he let out a long breath. “It’s you. What a relief. I thought it was someone who wanted to mug me.”
You’re going to wish it were after I’m done with you.“Oh yeah? I was just in the area and thought I’d walk by the lake on the way to my bike. What’re you doing in the park?”
“Suzette lives close to here, so I usually take a shortcut home. I live on the other side. Most of the time I drive, but she wanted to walk from my place to hers earlier today, so that’s how I’m here.”
Rock nodded. “Let’s go by the lake. Remember how we used to throw stones at the lake near us?Mamanwould always collect just the right size of flat stones so we could skip them easier. Do you remember that?”
