Instead I simply stared because that was all I could do.
“Oh.” Monica’s eyes flashed at the rip in my scarf then back up. Not even the remotest hint of remorse on her features. “I always wondered where you hid it. Not even Patrick knew.”
I exhaled hard at the admission, grinding my teeth and clenching my jaw until it ached. I could feel my eyes twitch slightly at the corners.
Why? I forced the word silently. The way my lips parted must’ve made it look like an animal bearing its gritted teeth at a predator.
“For real? Oh you sweet, naïve girl.” Monica snorted with upturned, incredulous eyes, then her face lost all joviality. Her face and body relaxed into such a callous coldness that I could almost feel the room’s heaters kick back on to compensate. “Why the fuck do you think?”
And with that Monica slammed the door in my face.
Utterly dejected, I walked down the hall and out of the building. It wasn’t until I stopped that the full weight of the past twenty-four hours settled and began to crush me. Alone in the dark I dropped my knees to the pavement by the dumpster and began to weep uncontrollably.
Rustling on the other side of the dumpster gave me pause. The adrenaline spike of not knowing who was there froze my breathing, and fortunately my sobbing, as I tried to stay as quiet as possible. It was a well-honed survival instinct. The only thing I’d find in this part of town at this hour would be trouble.
“Easy now, Patty-boy. Partners don’t give or take orders. You wanna try that again?” Billy Bones’ voice was clear if slightly distracted by whatever he was doing on the other side of the dumpster. “Yeah that’s what I thought. All right. That makes sense. I’ll let my crew know.”
Billy must’ve been with Monica for a late night call. That part made sense, but what the hell was he doing skulking around out here? He was all Gucci and Lamborghinis, to say this was slumming it was an incredible understatement. Then the unmistakable sound of urine hitting the pavement cleared everything up. He was just taking a piss before he left and figured he’d knock a few birds out with one stone.
“Yeah, it’s me. You with Chico and Sal?” Billy exhaled at being able to relieve himself. “Just talked with the pussy-peddler. We’re finally moving against his faggot biker club. Let the boys know it’s going down in one week when we take out those spicks at their restaurant. We’re going to let the bikers go in first, then catch them in the cross fire. Cut ‘em to fucking pieces. Fucking teach those cunts to steal shit from my family home! That’s my shit!”
Billy punctuated the last sentence with an abrupt and loud punch to the dumpster that would’ve startled a scream from me if I’d been able to. Billy began wrapping up the conversation with the time, address and all the other logistics the job would require from his guys. I didn’t catch all of it because he started back for his car when he finished peeing, but I heard enough to get a good idea of how it was all going to go down.
That dirty, back-stabbing asshole!
They were going to be ambushed! Caught in the middle between two gangs like that there was no way he or his MC could possibly survive! My first impulse was to write down everything I heard and let Wreck know immediately, but there’d be no way of reaching him that Patrick wasn’t monitoring. I racked my anxious, racing mind with a need to figure out how to warn Wreck that wouldn’t get me in trouble. Tomorrow, I decided. I’d tell him tomorrow when he came and picked me up. I knew the inner workings of Billy’s crew from all the research Patrick had me do before he reached out to them initially. Maybe together Wreck and I could figure out a way for the MC to avoid the double-cross or somehow use it to their advantage.
Then it hit me like a sledgehammer to the chest.
Why should I tell him?
In a little over one week I could be free. I could see my family again. All I had to do was…nothing at all. When Wreck and his MC were out of the picture I would be able to go back to my old life. Wasn’t that what I wanted? Wasn’t my family worth sacrificing everything for? That’s why I originally did what I did when I tried to have Patrick arrested. Back then when they were only dating.
Guilt swelled in me, then shame, then acceptance that I was a bad person. I had to be that way to survive in this world. The Devil Kings were a notorious one-percenter motorcycle club. I didn’t have to research all that hard to see what some of their members were convicted of. I was sure that Wreck and his crew must’ve done terrible things too so maybe they deserved what they got. Maybe I was actually doing a good thing by letting whatever happened happen.
I couldn’t stomach that particular self delusion for very long.
No, by doing nothing I was just as guilty as the men who eventually pulled the trigger and killed Wreck. I sucked in a deep breath and stood in silence on that dark night for what felt like hours arguing back and forth with myself. Exhausted and defeated on virtually every level, I went back inside.
I knew what I was going to do and because of that decision I knew exactly what kind of terrible, terrible person I was. My punishment would be to spend every day this next week with the person I was going to let die. I was a monster, but soon I would be free.
15
Wreck
“For a guy who's an expert marksman, sniper and bow hunter...” Yoga lined up his shot, exhaled slowly and sank his dart into the bulls-eye for the second time
