“I need help hiding all assets.”
“Why?” He asks as he looks at me more concerned. “The three of you are the rightful next of kin. No one should be able to contest that.”
“Have you met Terri?”
“No, but I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about her.” His words drenched in sarcasm.
“I just think that she may try to come after us for something… I hope that I’m mistaken, but just in case. Whatever is shady… that’s what she’ll come after.”
“Your dad was pretty good about covering his tracks.”
“But we need to make sure that they’re buried.” He nods his head again. “And one other thing.”
Ro turns his head, looking over at me and I sigh, already knowing that the next part is going to be at the minimum a fight, at the worst… it’ll be a fucking war.
“I want in.”
“What?”
“Let me build the charter back up.”
“No.” He shakes his head, quickly. “Fuck, no!” He exclaims with an awkward laugh at the end and I can see his wife’s interest now in our conversation. “Ash…” He trails, lowering his voice this time. “We made a deal a long fucking time ago. That all of you guys were going to be better than us.”
“Well, he’s dead now. They’re all dead. Except for one, every single officer that has been in this charter in the last 2 years is dead. And most of their ol’ ladies, too.” He shifts, uncomfortably. “Everyone else is terrified to be here. Let me do it. Don’t let whoever is doing this take their territory.”
His eyes shift from side to side as he leans into me. “Did your dad tell you all of this?”
“No, there’s just too many coincidences. Too many freak accidents… too many accidents in general.” Ro lets out a slight laugh as he shakes his head. “What?”
“You are reminding me a lot of him right now. That was what he told me the last time we spoke.”
“So you think so, too?”
“I think that there could be something. Could it be some coincidence, maybe, but there’s enough to cause anyone to question? It’s why your dad did what he did.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Axe.”
“What about him?” I ask, glancing up to where Axe stands with his wife talking to everyone, the sole survivor of the recent officers of Sonston’s End charter.
“He didn’t leave by choice. Ash insisted he leave. He told me to force him to go somewhere else. You know Ash has always protected Ella. She’s always been more of a daughter than anything else.” I nod my head, understanding. Dad spent most of his teenage years watching Ella for her dad while he was off doing whatever it was he wanted. I guess, it benefited us, though, cause he made sure never to do that to us. “He watched what happened with Remy, what losing Fury did to Lucy. He knew how much it broke Billie when Khan died. He didn’t want that to happen to Ella. He tried to make your mom leave, but…”
“Mom would never leave.”
Ro laughs out loud. “Ah, so you remember all those times?”
“You mean whenever the club was in trouble, the three of us would end up at Gran’s house with Billie and Lucy, yet mom would still be here. Yeah… how could I forget?” Being that my living grandmother, at least who we knew of, was garbage and Lucy’s parents practically adopted mom, they became our unofficial grandparents.
“Your dad and I talked about it here and I watched them fight about it. She told him if he stays, so does she.” He pauses and shakes his head. “I don’t think that you should.”
“But ultimately, it isn’t up to you.” I stand up to him, realizing for the first time that I’m capable of looking him in the eyes as I do.
“It’s supposed to go up to a vote.” He nods his head. “If I bring it to them.”
“And if you don’t. Ro, we’re family, and I love you, but I’m gonna do it, anyway. You either back me or not. Either way, I’m doing it.”
The grounds are desolate. Everyone who used to be here has high-tailed it out. All the years I spent outside of the parties, wishing that my parents would let me tag along inside. Just a group of kids watching from the tops of the houses. We could hear the music in the distance, passing around whatever bottle we could sneak out of the house without our parents noticing. Although now, looking back, I’m not sure how they couldn’t have not known.
