Long Way Home (Thunder Road #3)(35)

Eli gives a sloppy shrug. “Who knows, but I’ve been dealing with Skull since Meg told me she was pregnant with Emily. Bastard hates me. Have to say the emotion goes both ways. All the shit we’ve been through over the years, he never voluntarily walked into a police station and he’s never talked club business with us or the law.

“The police feel Skull should have called them when he found you and Violet and they find it suspicious he had his son drop the two of you off on the dirt road.”

“You don’t?” I ask.

“Not thrilled with it,” Eli responds, “but at the same time, police aren’t the Riot’s knee-jerk reaction and they did get you home quick after they found you.”

All a blur, but the moment Skull found us we were up the steps, Violet in the bathroom, and the phone call to Eli happened shortly after.

“The police said they could try to charge Skull and his son, but they said the charges could be tough to make stick. They’re leaving that up to us.” Eli settles his dark eyes straight on me. “And we’re leaving that up to you.”

I hear everything Eli’s saying and not saying. They’ll support me if I want to lock up Skull and his son, but it also sounds like we’re on the verge of harmony with a club that’s caused us problems since my birth. Arresting them could kill that fragile peace.

“Can I think about it?” I ask.

“Yeah. The decision will need to be made, but you have time.”

“What about Fiend and the others with him?” The temperature in the room drops thirty degrees and it’s all thanks to me. That son of a bitch needs to never see daylight again due to a cell or because he’s dead. Either option works for me and I’m fine being the one responsible for the punishment.

“He shot at Violet,” I remind them. “Point-blank shot at her. Would have killed her if Skull and his son hadn’t come in when they did. Plus the fucking asshole hit her. Multiple times. He made her bleed.” He needs to bleed.

The air in the room is so charged that electricity is practically crackling around us. Each man has that determined yet faraway expression on their face. Each of us imagining how to skewer the bastard and make him cry.

Eli drums his fingers against the table. “Fiend and the guys working with him are gone. Skull seems to have no idea where they’re at, but he says he’s looking. We told Skull if he values this peace, that if his club finds them before we or the police do, he’s to turn them over to the police. We will get justice for you and Violet. Those men will go to prison.”

My body pulsates. The people who hurt Violet are free and that’s not acceptable. “We’ve got to find them.”

“We will,” Cyrus says. “We’re looking, the police are looking and in theory the Riot are, as well. Got to be honest, though, we have to find them before the Riot does. What they did makes them traitors and traitors don’t survive in the Riot.”

“Whatever you or the police need, I’ll do it.” Anything to make Violet safe again.

Affirmations around the table. A promise from each man to see this through, to do anything to help me nail the bastards who did the unthinkable.

“I’ve got a question.” Pigpen flicks a paper clip he’d been messing with in my direction. “Did Skull mention what it was he wanted to talk to you about?”

All eyes on me and the high I’d been feeling from being a part of something bigger than myself plummets. I’d been able to avoid this at the hospital because of Mom being around, but there’s no dodging it now. But to be honest, it shouldn’t be evaded. What Skull told me is heavy, and if these men are truly my brothers, bringing it up won’t change a thing.

My grandfather’s watching me. Expectant. Waiting. Patient in his own way. He’s been a father to me. Doing all the crap dads are supposed to do. Taught me how to hook a worm so it won’t fall off, unhook a fish, how to gut it open and fry it. Taught me how to respect a girl, open doors, treat her right. Taught me to give my all and then how to dig deeper when I don’t think there’s anything left.

Another thing Cyrus taught me: to spill it instead of being a coward. “Skull told me my dad was a traitor. That he worked for the Riot while being patched in to the Terror. He said the detective in Louisville recently figured it out and it wouldn’t be long until he told you.”

An inferno. Cyrus’s face is cool, but his eyes are a raging fire. “My son was no traitor.”

Don’t know how to respond, so I keep going, searching the table for support from someone, and instead I’m met with relatives of the grim reaper. “Skull said he wanted to talk to me before you guys found out. Out of respect for my father. He said James was a friend of his, a good man...” And there’s nothing else to say.

“Do you believe him?” Cold. Deadly. Not a voice Cyrus has used with me before.

“No.” But it bothers me Skull brought it up. Bothers me he said there’s a woman out there who has proof. Bothers me my father isn’t buried in Snowflake. Lots of things bothering me and none of them are wise to mention.

I just survived a kidnapping. Not feeling suicidal at the moment.

Multiple cell phones chime and I jerk as if brought out of a trance. Eli pulls his cell out of his pocket, then whips his head when someone bangs on the door. Not just banging, kicking the hell out of it. The door shakes within the frame.