Page 121 of Girth (Marked Skulls MC 1)
I walked back into the shadows and switched out the Devil Saints leather cut for an orange vest and hat. Those of us who stayed behind finished loading the other truck with the auto part crates with the low-quality shit. Having a truck here with the drugs would set off the DEA agents we knew would be arriving soon. They’d pull up footage of the warehouse and see us all in Devil Saints cuts, and that would lead them right to their doorstep.
The perfect plan if we could all get out of here without being seen.
We all dodged the cameras before making our way back to our bikes in the abandoned warehouse. We cranked ourselves up and took the backroads all the way to the Devil Saints compound, making sure to stay out of sight while we made sure Fox got there safely. We stayed with the truck, making sure nothing would happen to it while it was on the highway, and the moment we hit the main drag that took us right into the heart of their territory, we diverted.
We wound ourselves up a massive red clay mountain that perched us right over their compound. We cut off our bikes and watched the truck pull right up to their main lodge, and I smirked as we prepared for the show. Any minute now that DEA agent would be pulling up to the warehouse, and I couldn’t wait to watch these assholes go down in flames.
If we were lucky, a firefight would ensue, and we could watch their blood spill like they spilled ours all those years ago.
“Hey shitheads,” Snake said as he rolled up.
“Get our shipment handled?” I asked.
“Yup, we are all set on our end. Truck is gone, and all of the drugs are hidden in our mechanic shop.”
“Good,” Mac said.
“As I was riding over here, I saw a black sedan headed in the direction of our warehouse.”
“Then it shouldn’t be long now,” Mac said. “All our guys out of there?” he asked turning towards Talon.
“Yep. Made sure of it. Left behind a Devil Saints cut, too. Just in case they needed more proof,” Talon said.
“Fucking perfect,” Snake said, chuckling.
We all sat there as the sirens started whirring way off in the distance. I started getting anxious, wondering if this was going to go down as planned. We all sat on our bikes as a few of the Devil Saints came riding up, scoping out the truck that was just sitting there without a driver.
That’s when we heard Fox huffing himself up the hill, sweat pouring down his face as he dragged his bike out of the shadows.
“I was wonderin’ where you’d put that thing,” I said as he pulled up beside me.
“Figured crankin’ up my bike would’ve given me away. Damn this mountain’s tall,” Fox said.
“You got the keys?” I asked.
Fox pulled them from his jeans pocket and held them up for all of us to behold.
“Unless someone knows how to hotwire an eighteen wheeler, that shit isn’t goin’ anywhere,” he said.
The sirens were getting closer and closer, and we knew it was about to be on. We saw the Devil Saints beginning to panic as someone threw open the doors of the truck. A man hopped up into the bed of the truck, no doubt checking out what was in those wooden containers as the sirens got closer and closer. They were so close we could see the lights flickering down the road, and that’s when we saw everyone beginning to panic.
They were running around and shouting at one another. Some were running into the compound and coming out with guns, which prompted all of us to scoot back a bit onto the mountain. Black sedans skidded into place and guns began to fire, and for a split second I locked up. I was thrown back to that night, where I’d fired my first ever gun at an actual human being. I remembered the people I’d hit. How they screamed and gurgled on their own blood. I remembered how scared Sydney had looked, watching her father while the life fled from his eyes. I could only imagine how frightened she was now, sitting in that house alone waiting for me to come back.
She was probably wondering if I would ever come back.
The shotgun hung on my back just like it had that night The Devil Saints rolled up on us. We listened to the gunfire ring out into the night as more and more DEA agents showed up. We heard people screaming while the officers called for backup. We saw people being hauled off in handcuffs as motorcycle after motorcycle rolled up onto the site of the party. It was absolute chaos, and we watched with grins on our faces as the entity of The Devils Saints finally came crashing into the ground.
“The DEA’s gonna have plenty to lock them up for,” Talon said.
“No fucking joke,” Mac said.
“How’s Syd?” Fox asked.
“Probably worried sick,” I said.
“Well, this has come to a head,” Mac said. “Take the back trail down the mountain and get back to her.”
The bloodthirsty lust in me wanted to stay and watch this some more. It gave me a shivering pleasure to watch those assholes sink to the ground in their own pools of blood. They’d slaughtered many of our own, ripping from me the most important man in my life.
And because they did, it ripped from me the only woman who’d ever meant anything to me.
“Hawk,” Snake said as he hand came down onto my shoulder. “Go home to her. This is good. We’ll call if something happens.”
I nodded as I drew a deep breath, taking in the stench of metallic blood and fired guns that were filling the nighttime air. I backed my bike all the way up the trail and got into some thick brushes before I started it up, then I slowly made my way back down the mountain. I had to get fifteen miles down the road before the gunfire dissipated into nothingness, and I cruised the highway while I made my way back to Sydney.
For the first time since she’d appeared on my doorstep two weeks ago, I finally felt relaxed. I knew that she was safe, I knew that my daughter was safe, and I knew I was coming home safe to her. I smiled at the idea of slipping back into bed with her, and she’d probably be so happy to see me that I’d be able to take her body again like I’d wanted to so many times over the past six years.
My toes curled at the thought of her soft skin against mine as I exited off the highway and headed towards my house.
Home. The place my father had raised me in.
Home. The place I’d first had sex with Sydney.
Home. The place where I first met my daughter.
Home. The place I hoped Sydney would stay.
Chapter 18
Sydney
I laid there in bed for what seemed like hours. My phone was laying on my chest as I stared up at the ceiling. All night, my mind whirled, wondering if Hawk was okay. If things had gone as planned. If Agent Mahoney was going to leave us alone. I wondered how Emery was doing. If Miss Maria would find it a bother that I wanted to call at four in the morning. I wondered if everyone else was safe. If Uncle Mac was alive and well and if Talon was smiling with their victory.
I tossed and turned, trying to get back to sleep even though I knew I would never be able to.
I put my phone on the bedside table and rolled over into Hawk’s spot. I inhaled his scent from the pillow, trying to stop the tears that were rising in my eyes. All I could think about was the bloodbath that had ripped me from him all those years ago. All I could see was the life fading from my father’s eyes. All I could remember was how I’d lost myself in Hawk that night, trying to fuck away from the memory of my father dying as our bodie
s lost themselves in one another.
Not once did I stop to think about the fact that Hawk was grieving, too. Not once as I shoved my things into a tattered bag did I think about what my absence would do to him. Not once did I even give thought to the fact that we hadn’t used protection.
Not once did I think about what my absence would’ve done to those who helped raise me.
Uncle Mac had been my support system. My go-to person when I was fighting with my father. On days where I just wanted that man to leave me alone, I knew I could fly into Mac’s arms and just stay there. He always had a kind word and some sort of soda to give me while I ranted about the stupid shit my father was doing this time, and Mac always had a way of putting things into perspective for me.
And Talon. Talon was such an awkward, quiet kid. His mom and dad were both part of The Road Rebels, and both of them had died that night in the attack. His mother shielded him with her body, and she died right there on top of him. It wasn’t until he finally had the courage to push her body from his that he found his father lying on the floor next to him.
Trying to shield him and get to his dying wife.
Snake and I had been inseparable for years. He was rough around the edges, but at the time he was the only person teaching me how to shoot a gun. My father didn’t trust the person teaching the children how to wield them, so he hired Snake behind everyone’s back to give me a crash course. Snake saw how uncomfortable I was with them, so he enlisted Mac and Fox to help me with hand-to-hand combat.
Every single man that now made up the core of the group had some sort of hand in raising me. In loving me. In helping my father figure out what the hell to do with a moody, teenage daughter.
And I’d spat in all their faces when I left without a word.
It was then I heard a motorcycle revving down the road. I jumped out of bed and wrapped my body back up in his bathrobe. I dashed downstairs and looked out the window, tears rising to my eyes when I saw Hawk approach his porch. I threw the door open before he could even get the key in the lock, and I wrapped my arms around his neck as he picked me up off my feet.
