Secret Mayhem (Back Down Devil MC #4)(52)

“Jesus Christ,” Blaine said as he put a hand over his mouth.

“Cover him up,” Miller said. “Give him some goddamn respect.”

Jace folded Jonesy’s arms across his chest and covered him with the sheet.

“Where is he?” Shay asked. “That motherf*cker. Where is he? I’ll do this right now.”

“And that’s what he wants,” Griffin said. “He wants us pissed off so that we act rash.”

“First off,” Miller said, “Gaige, call Chief Jerry and tell him what we have here. I have to go call Strokner again.”

Miller looked at Shay and gave a quick nod.

Shay nodded back, knowing things were going to move fast.

“I can’t be in here,” Blaine said. “I need a drink and a blow job. I need to clear my f*cking mind.”

Everyone shuffled from the room to the hall. Blaine whistled for a prospect to gather up some drinks. Gaige stepped away to talk to the chief. Shay looked down the hall and thought about Ava.

Christ, what would happen to her if Caius got his way?

Shay loved her. Damnit, he loved the woman.

“Here.” Blaine gave Shay a beer. “Drink. Fuck! I don’t know what to do right now. I’m so pissed.”

“So am I,” Shay said. “So am I.”

“Jonesy,” Nate said. “He always did good for us.”

“He was kidnapped,” Jace said. “Fingers cut off. Tongue cut the f*ck out. Then set free knowing he would come here to do this. It makes me sick.”

Shay looked to the closed door. It made him sick too.

He did it to warn me, too. To tell me how bad it really is.

Miller came walking back a few seconds later, a beer in hand. His face was serious as he stared directly at Shay. For a second, Shay thought Miller was going to pull a gun on him and shoot. Before that could happen, Gaige whistled and called for Shay.

Shay turned and hurried over to Gaige. “What’s going on, brother?”

“Chief Jerry will take care of our problem here,” Gaige said. “But I got some answers for you…”





twenty-three.



Ava sat up in bed and took a deep breath. The room smelled like Shay. That musky, man, motorcycle, in your face sexy kind of smell. It made her wet instantly. That’s what he did to her.

When Shay opened the door and came into the room, he didn’t have anything with him except a bottle of beer.

“No breakfast today?” Ava asked.

“Get out of bed,” Shay said. “We have to talk.”

Ava saw the look on Shay’s face. Something was very wrong. “What’s going on?”

“Jonesy is dead. He killed himself last night.”

The sheet around her body fell to the floor as she covered her mouth in shock, and she stood in just her panties. Her stomach ached suddenly and she ran to the bathroom. The image of Jonesy’s body jumping as she pleasured him mixed with the image of his dead body and she lost it. Ava threw up into the toilet and then forced herself to stand at the sink. She looked in the mirror and noticed Shay standing there.

“I feel like doing the same,” Shay said. “Just so you know.”

“I don’t understand,” Ava said. “Was it because of what happened to him? Or because of what he wanted me to do?”

“Doubt that,” Shay said. “It was Caius. Killing Jonesy was his goal. But doing it himself would have been easy. Typical. So he ordered Jonesy to come here and gave him a time limit to kill himself or else his family would be in danger.”

Ava touched her stomach. It growled with a sick anger. She slowly turned and reached back to keep her hands on the sink. “What kind of man does this?”

“A sick one,” Shay said. “I’ve been warning you, Ava. For good reason. You shouldn’t have stepped foot in this clubhouse. You shouldn’t have set your eyes on me. You’re life is in danger for just being here.”

“I don’t care about that,” Ava said.

And she really didn’t care. She didn’t want to picture what Shay’s brother would do to her if he got a hold of her, but she would let him if it meant that Shay would live.

“I spoke to Jonesy last night,” Shay said. “While you were sleeping. I should have seen something in him. Instead, he took the time to make sure I was okay when he should have been worried about having to kill himself.”

“Stop,” Ava said. She approached Shay with caution. She reached for his strong hands. “It’s okay, Shay. We’re still here together.”

Shay squeezed her hands. She saw a little side of vulnerability in Shay right now and she liked it. She felt helpless with the Caius situation, but she knew what she could do to ease his mind and make him feel good.

As Ava came forward, her eyes and focused on Shay’s neck, he reached up and held her face back. He stared into her eyes.

“Gaige called Chief Jerry to report Jonesy's death,” Shay said. He took a deep breath. "But Chief had news for me. About Todd.”

Hearing his name almost made her run for the toilet again. “Oh.”

The warm feeling quickly left Ava’s body and was replaced with a cold chill. She was scared to hear what he had to say.

“Todd is dead, Ava.”