AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My jaw hurts by the time we reach the clubhouse; my teeth are gritted so hard. It’s a stone building on the outskirts of Blackmoor, where the houses are smaller and made of wood siding and clapboard instead of stone and brick, where the public schools are. This is where the other half lives, where Athena used to live, before she was given a ticket to Blackmoor Academy and then, by virtue of what happened there, a free ride straight to Blackmoor University.
Before she met us.
I’ve never been out here before. My encounters with the Devil’s Sons have been limited to the warehouses near the coast where they bring in shipments and meet up with our fathers to give reports on the product they’re moving for various illicit business deals. I’ve never had any reason to come to this part of town.
There’s a glow of light coming from inside the building. Off to the right, there’s another stone building, converted into a mechanic’s shop with four bays. It’s dark now, everyone who’s here is inside, probably enjoying a beer and eyeing the women who hang around the clubhouse and talking shit. The motorcycles are lined up in front, and Jaxon kills his bike before we get all the way there, so there’s less likelihood of them hearing us coming.
“This isn’t going to go well,” Cayde says darkly, his voice low. “Jaxon is about ready to snap, and so am I. It’s been a rough night for all of us, and now—”
I feel a rush of anger heating my blood as I kill the engine of the car and look at the light pouring out from the clubhouse. Those men inside might have had something to do with Athena going missing, and if they did—
“We’ll do whatever we have to,” I say curtly. “To get my pet back.”
Cayde’s mouth thins into a hard line, but he says nothing. I have a momentary flash of resentment because a small voice in the back of my head tells me that that means he cares more for Athena than I do because he’s choosing not to fight with me about it and focus on the problem at hand instead.
Athena is mine.
But is she, after what happened tonight?
I suddenly feel tired, aching in every part of me with exhaustion. I want the night to be over, and I have the feeling that it’s barely begun. I want Athena back, and there’s no longer any guarantee that will happen.
Jaxon is already waiting for us when we get out of the car. His face looks grim in the dark shadows, and he’s the one who goes first, striding purposefully to the front door of the clubhouse.
He doesn’t bother knocking. Instead, he just stalks in with the same angry purpose, the two of us flanking him for a change, which might be the first time that’s ever happened.
“Who the fuck are you?” A big burly man at the bar is the first to get up. I have just a second to take in our surroundings, to see the bar along one wall and the worn leather couches and the pool table and jukebox, the adjoining room that must be where they hold meetings, before the man is advancing on us. “You boys look like you wandered into the wrong place.”
“We didn’t,” Jaxon says coolly, holding up a hand to keep Cayde and me from advancing. Cayde looks like he wants to start throwing punches already, but Jaxon is wound even tighter. “You don’t recognize us?”
“I recognize that you boys look like you’re from the fancy part of town.” He sniffs deeply as if he’s gearing up to spit. “We’re off duty right now, which means we don’t need to take orders from folks like you.”
He’s said three sentences and I’ve already had enough. “You do,” I say, my voice dripping with distaste, “because we’re the sons of the men who give you your marching orders.”
“Dean—” Jaxon’s voice has a warning edge, but the burly man’s bravado falters a little as he glances over Jaxon’s shoulder at me and then at Cayde.
“Uh—Dean—”
“Blackmoor, that’s right.” I push past Jaxon, glaring down at the man, who is shorter than I am by a couple of inches. “And Cayde St. Vincent, and Jaxon King. We’re going to be your lords and masters when our fathers are gone, so I suggest you pocket that attitude and listen to what the fuck we have to say.”
The tension in the room immediately ratchets up. Everyone there—ten or so men—are on high alert from the moment I say our names.
“Sit down, Jeremiah,” a lanky older man with greying hair says. “Let’s hear what these boys have to say.”
“Something of ours has gone missing,” I say, my voice tight and angry.
Jaxon casts me a bitter look. “Someone,” he clarifies. “The girl living with us. Athena Saint, black hair, grey-blue eyes, spitfire mouth.”
“Sounds like a girl I’d like to get acquainted with,” a young-ish dark-haired guy at the end of the bar cracks, smirking at the three of us.
I’ve never seen Cayde move so fast. He’s across the room in a split second, his hand on the back of the guy’s neck as he slams him face-first into the bar. His hand fists into the guy’s hair, jerking his head back as he reaches for a beer bottle, and only the sharp crack of my voice calling out his name stops him from breaking it across the guy’s face.
Everyone in the room is frozen. I can see that the men are on the verge of drawing weapons I know they have, and I’m not armed. Neither is Cayde—Jaxon might be, who knows. There’s a gun in my car, but I hadn’t planned on violence if we could avoid it. But we’re already there. There’s blood dripping from the guy’s nose and lip, and there’s a solid chance Cayde broke his nose, maybe damaged some teeth. He was asking for it, but that doesn’t matter here. If these other nine men decide we’ve overstepped, we’re outnumbered.
“Cayde. Back down.” The order in my voice is clear, and I don’t know how he’ll respond to it. Cayde isn’t much for following my orders tonight. But the situation is volatile, and I know that someone needs to calm it the fuck down.
Cayde doesn’t let go of the man’s hair, but he doesn’t reach for the beer bottle either. “Don’t fucking talk about Athena like that,” he snarls. “That’s my girl you’re talking about. You understand me?”
“Our girl,” Jaxon corrects, his voice dark and deadly.
