Ruthless Hold (Back Down Devil MC #9)(18)

“Christ,” Miller said. He looked back. “I don’t think he was f*cking her ass, Trev. If he was, Eden wouldn’t be here.”

“Good point.”

“My advice is to let it all go for now,” Miller said. “Let me do my Sunday thing with family. Keep her safe and company. Take care of those prospects. Not today or anything. I’ve got Jace, Landon, and Erik going on a ride to check on some spots to dump the prospects. We need to take this slow. Really f*cking slow. Any misstep and this thing will explode. This isn’t us versus some other crew, Trev. This is within the MC. Charter versus charter never ends well. Not when it’s the two main charters. Ripper has control of the west coast into Canada, okay? He spans across the north and down into Nevada. We work together as two powerful charters to spread as far east as we can reach. Anything that f*cks that up…”

Trev stepped forward and couldn’t believe the words that were about to slip from his mouth. “Then the only way to silence this is to silence her. Make it all go away. Whoever wants this stirred up must have a good reason to do it. Jenn? Griffin dies and she sends a letter he wrote?”

“I don’t know, brother. Right now, what I do know is this… she’s the last tie to Griffin we have. She’s his bloodline. Putting a bullet in her head is putting a bullet in Griffin’s. I’m not doing that. There’s more to her than we see right now. She could help us. Just keep her company, Trev. I have to process all this.”

Miller walked away and Trev went back to the apartment. He opened the door and saw Eden sitting at the table. She had finished her beer. Trev went and got her a fresh one, then joined her at the table.

They stared at each other for a few seconds.

“What?” Eden asked.

“You really picked a f*cked up time to come here, sweetheart. I’m really sorry about that.”

“Yeah, me too I guess.”

“We’re going to keep you safe.”

“You think those guys who killed Dimitrio will come for me?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think your friend was killed just to rob the place. They were gunning for you. To silence you.”

“Why?”

“Because of what you can do with that letter and picture.”

“The letter is gone,” Eden said.

“But you and the picture aren’t. Your words can really hurt this club.”

“So I have power?”

Trev laughed. “No. You don’t, sweetheart. But you carry death in your hand. Which is why I can’t let you leave this place. There’s a lot going on right now.”

Eden slowly stood up. “Then I’m going to get some rest. I’m tired. I finished work last night, watched my friend get murdered, escaped from three masked men, and then hid with a gun until morning. I’ve earned a nap.”

“You go do that,” Trev said. “Remember what I said about me. When I start, you don’t stop me. Or I will feed you to the wolves out there. You think I’m scary? You have no idea what scary is.”

Trev watched Eden walk away, his eyes following the way her ass moved left to right. He gripped his beer bottle tight and felt his cock thickening again. She was driving him mad already, whether she knew it or meant to do it. She wasn’t just some woman to dump a load into and walk away. She was far more than that.

There was a knock at the apartment door and Trev opened it to find Gaige standing there.

“Hey,” Trev said.

“Where is she?”

“Sleeping. She was up all night in fear of what happened.”

“Good.”

“What’s wrong?”

“We have some calls out. Trying to play things as subtle as possible. Two PD cars are in the lot right now.”

“Ah, f*ck, why?”

“Just some questions on Emilio’s murder. They mentioned the murder at the tattoo shop though. The word is spreading. They’re going to want to talk to her.”

“They have to find her first.”

“Keep it that way,” Gaige said. “This is a f*cking mess.”

“It is. But we can’t judge Griffin just yet. We need to tread carefully, approach Ripper, talk to Jenn. Sort this out. I can’t imagine something from over twenty years ago breaking this all apart now.”

“Then you don’t know Ripper,” Gaige said. “He wants Miller to drop the gavel. He’s always wanted it. Ripper dreams of running both charters.”

“Why didn’t Miller tell me that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you. But I trust you, Trev. I respect you. You patched in to this club, this charter, and I want it to remain that way. Us. Back Down Devil MC Frelen.”

“Why do I feel like something bad is going to happen?”

“Because it is. Something really bad is going to happen. I’m telling you if Ripper shows up here you need to be ready to take off with Eden. Go east to The Lost Men. Make a call or two, okay? Secure something.”

“Okay, Gaige. Let me just hang here with her. I have to take care of the prospect situation. It’ll work out, bro. We’re not used to this much action at once. Hasn’t happened in a while.”

“That’s the hardest part about this life, Trev. One second the reaper is swinging at you, close enough to feel his blade slice through the air. The next second, he’s gone. Days go by. Weeks go by. Hell, even months could go by. You know the reaper is there, but he’s quiet. It’s like he’s f*cking with you, you know? Then the second you let your guard start to slip, he’s back, ready to take you again.”