“And it’s been their lives you played God with all these years. I say karma is a bitch…bitch,” Ruthie says.
She
looks away from us, pursing her lips.
“Do you even have a heart? All I hear is you playing the victim and begging to be rescued. Not a week ago, you were slapping your grandson in front of God and everyone.”
“That was an accident.”
“Really? So, a ghost jumped into your body and made you do it?” Ruthie asks.
I snicker.
“No, of course not. I was overwhelmed and I took it out on the wrong person,” Pixie states.
“And yet, you want us to believe you’re fit enough to raise a child?” I say.
“I’m not… I explained why I did that—”
“And why should we believe you? Maybe you’re working with them right now,” I suggest.
“I’m not.”
I shrug halfheartedly. “Hmmm. I guess that’ll be up to Stone to decide.”
Her face pales.
I smirk. You should be worried.
Echo
Shit. I open my eyes and grab the phone screaming at me from the nightstand. “Hello?”
“Mandatory church, brother, get your ass up,” Shadow says.
“Ugh. All right, brother, I’ll get dressed and be there.” I hang up and force my aching body into a sitting position. We stayed up all night in the garage catching up on work. With a run and the impromptu wedding back-to-back, we’d all gotten a bit behind. I swipe at my eyes with the back of my hand and climb from bed. Padding over the wood floor I enter the bathroom and turn on the faucet. After running water over my head and face, I finger tame my hair into a ponytail and blot my face with my towel. My eyes are tinted pink and light circles line my lids. Fuck it. It’ll do. I power brush my teeth, put my feet in my boots, and make my way toward church.
When I enter, I notice Stone standing in the front of the room. He looks pissed. His face is red and his eyes are full of murder. Whatever he has to announce is going to be huge. I take a seat by the wall, and lean my head back against it. Still waking up, I watch as the brothers pour in. When we’re all in, the door is closed.
“I found out some news that has me pissed as fuck,” Stone states. “We all know Pixie is trying to go for custody of Bolton. I guessed it to be a combination of grief and jealousy. She just had a major loss, and her daughter is starting a new life and happy as shit. I don’t pretend to understand all bitches, but I know they can be catty and petty. I’ve seen bullshit like this put brothers at odds in a club before. I figured she’d get her ass handed to her in court, and shit would start to settle. Then I hear some shit about why she was doing it. Battle’s people have been strong arming her. Telling her without them, Calla will be vulnerable in prison and they’ll wreck Pixie’s world.”
“What the fuck?” Shadow barks.
“I know, brother, its bullshit. We settled up with them. Shit should be done. That they’d come behind my back and pull this, tells me we got major problems. If the President doesn’t know about this, it mean his boys are out of control. We can’t have that shit.”
“So what do you want to do, Boss?” Wizard asks.
“I want to ride down there and sort these motherfuckers out. We’re either disbanding the chapter or cutting out the cancer before it spreads. We all know this is Battle’s people. Once we take back our patches and ink off the others, we’ll decide what to do from there. Afterward, Pixie is going to withdraw her suit. It’ll never see court. I want us to all ride in tonight. I want to come in hard and strong, and decimate. I’ll burn my own shit down before I let someone else destroy it.”
“Where’s Pixie now?” Shadow asks.
“She’s with Blue. I got Dixie Rose with her and a gang of prospects inside, outside, and doing constant drive-bys. No one’s getting to them.”
“Then let’s do this. I want this shit settled yesterday,” Shadow says.
“We got a route mapped out that’ll take us in discreetly. Handle your business and be ready to ride. I got a crew I’m leaving behind to hold things down in case this is a set up. I don’t trust shit out of Pixie’s mouth at this point. Go get ready to travel. Vests on,” Stone instructs, dismissing us.
Like that, we’re on what could be a kamikaze mission. I run my hand through my hair. Shit. I walk back to my room and call D’Rose.