Page 44 of April’s Fool

During church today, Rimfire shared all the information he had on each of the guys I sent him pictures of after spending the last week doing a deep dive into their lives. As I’d stood against the wall instead of at the table, only ranking officers of the club had seats, listening to everything Rimfire found, the deeper the need to kill grew.

Now, I wanted to make them hurt in more than one way before burying them in the ground.

The only thing is, several of them were from well-to-do families, which could backfire on the club if their sons go missing. Rimfire is now digging into the families as a whole, not just the ‘boys’.

Focusing on my woman, taking in her stricken expression and how pale she looks, I dig my phone out and find Rimfire’s number.

“What?” he answers on the second ring.

“Want to see if there’s a way for you to intercept messages as they’re being sent to April’s phone,” I tell him.

“Something else happen?” he asks as the typing I heard when he answered the call stops.

“You can say that. I’m bringing April and Kayla back to the clubhouse. I don’t want either of them within walking distance of those clowns. Not even if I’m with her or another member of the club.”

“Shit, that bad?”

“Worse.” The sight of the bullshit on my wife’s phone is enough to put the fucker away in jail, but since he’s connected to the family, I doubt he’d even get that much time. The family would pay off the judge. That’s if it even made that far. Charges would have to be filed first, and that’s the kicker.

“Right,” Rimfire grunts. “I’ll let Prez know. We’ll get a room straight for Kayla.”

“Appreciate it.” Hanging up, I shove my phone back into my pocket and cross the room, kneeling in front of April and taking her hand in mine. “Sweets, I’m gonna take care of all this shit.”

“What’s going on?” Kayla demands.

“You know how I’ve been keeping something from everyone?”

“Yes, I know. I’ve wanted to throttle you more than once for not opening up,” Kayla snaps, narrowing her eyes. “Is this guy the reason?”

If it weren’t for the fact that I know she’s not being malicious, I’d go off on her for taking that tone with my woman.

April nods without speaking further.

Reaching for her, I lift her off the couch and into my arms. “We’re gonna get shit together to take to the clubhouse. You get whatever you need together.”

“Yeah, sure,” Kayla mutters.

I glance over to Torpedo. “Once I get April straight, we’re heading out.” I’m gonna have to get April’s head straight beforehand, ‘cause we’re taking her car, which means she’s gonna have to drive. I want her out of this apartment. And I don’t want to have to tell her why, but she’s got a right to know.

Those last texts she’d gotten weren’t just harassing. They were threats, threats made toward her. The fucker all but said he’d take her away from here and show her that it was better to fuck him than to be a biker slut.

Guiding April into the room, I close the door and spin her in my arms, holding her close. I wrap my fingers in her thick hair and tilt her head back to meet her gaze. “Everything’s gonna be good, baby. Nothing’s gonna happen to you. I swear to you, that fucker is going to get what’s coming. He doesn’t know who he’s dealing with. Now, we’re gonna pack enough shit that you don’t have to come back here. I’ll get the rest of it dealt with and moved to the house.”

“I can’t just move out that quickly. I still have school to finish,” she protests.

“Yeah, you’ve all but finished all your assignments. You told me what the last few weeks were about. You’re done, except for finals. You can do whatever the fuck you want.”

April draws her bottom lip between her teeth and seems to be mauling it over before sighing, eyes looking defeated. “I didn’t finish reading all the messages that kept coming in. But they were bad, weren’t they?”

“I’m just gonna say this. The sick fucker is in for a rude awakening.” Either with my brothers or alone, I intend to see the lesson taught and death delivered. You don’t mess with those I care about, let alone those who hold my heart. And that’s exactly what April holds.

“I don’t want you to get into trouble.”

“I won’t,” I tell her, dipping my head. “Clubs have a saying, ‘An eye for an eye. Tooth for a tooth.’ We don’t do anything without meaning it, and we sure as hell don’t let others fuck with us without teaching a lesson. I’m done with letting them breathe easily. They’re all going to learn that you don’t mess with what’s mine.”

April sucks in a breath and nods.

“You gonna be able to drive to the clubhouse?” I don’t like the idea of her being alone, but I’m not taking any chances that something is here that doesn’t need to be.