The Scars That Define Us (The Devil's Dust #2)(67)

“I guess we know now it was definitely Augustus and his men who hit Babs,” Old Guy says, surveying the bloody, cracked windshield.

Bobby lays the tarp back down shaking his head in anger. We walk around, see a doorless entry, and go in. My hand immediately goes to my gun, ready for a shootout.





“AH, THE DEVIL’S DUST is here,” Augustus says, coming down a railing of stairs and adjusting his tie, which matches his black suit. His long, black hair is slicked back into a ponytail, and his black shoes shine from the florescent light fixture that hangs above. “So nice of you to stop by.”

“Someone is going to pay for the life of one of my girls,” Bull shouts.

“I see,” Augustus says, slicking his hair back with his hand. “George loved playing ‘cat and mouse’ with your girls, but he didn’t follow orders directly. Seems he got carried away with one, and I apologize for that.” He gestures in the direction of George. He is short and has a green bandanna on low, so you can’t see his eyes. He has tattoos that don’t make any sense sketched all along his neck, and knuckles. He will die tonight. He just doesn’t know it yet.

“If you’ll be so kind as to drop your weapons, boys,” Augustus orders, kicking a blue crate toward us.

“Do we look stupid?” Bobby asks.

“Do it,” Augustus demands. He snaps his fingers and two guys walk up behind him, pointing a rifle at us.

I pull my gun from my holster and throw it in as the other guys do the same.

“Talk,” Bull commands.

“Right,” Augustus says, loosening the cuffs on his sleeves. “When your little bitches crippled my nephew, I was going to kill every single one of them.”

My nose flares with anger; I’d kill him right now if I could but Augustus is too protected, so if I kill him, I ensure the death of myself and the rest of us.

“I even sent a warning to let you know war had begun.” He looks up from his cuffs and sniffles.

“I sure did love that bike too.” Locks voice sounds from behind me. I turn and find Locks walking up behind us.

“What the f*ck?” I mutter.

“Locks?” Old Guy questions, just as shocked as I am that he’s here.

“When I found out one of the girls who beat my nephew was your daughter, a new business opportunity came to light. I thought I would trade you,” Augustus continues, straightening his tie.

“Trade me what?” Bull asks, his gaze snapping from Locks to Augustus.

“Your girl’s life for a little business,” Augustus explains. “You let me run drugs on your side, and you can run guns on my side. You get some cash, and your women get to live.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal.

Bull turns his head, looking at me, his eyes silently asking me if he thinks we should do it. I nod. I would agree to anything to ensure Dani’s safety.

“Then this is over?” Bull asks.

“Over,” Augustus says, nodding.

“Fine,” Bull says.

“Fantastic,” Augustus smiles, but continues casually, “However, I don’t condone business with clubs who have rats amongst them.”

“What the f*ck are you talking about?” Bull questions.

“Why don’t you tell them, Locks?” Augustus says, looking at our brother. We all turn and stare at Locks who’s standing a few feet behind me.

“What the hell is he talking about?” Bull reiterates.

“You might as well tell them,” Augustus smiles.

Locks looks at Augustus then back to Bull.

“You lost your priorities when you let your family into the club. You threw caution to the wind when your daughter came back,” Locks spits, pointing at Bull. “Dani was a threat to the club, and she should have had a bullet put in her head.” He looks at me, speculating it should have been me to kill her. “When Babs told me about her niece, I told her no, and that should have been the end of it. But because you were f*cking her, she thought she could do whatever she wanted to.” Bull flinches at his words.

“You never deserved Babs,” Bull seethes, his words calm and collected. His face drawn tight, his eyes hooded with hatred.

“Eh, that’s up for debate,” Locks snarls. “I knew Augustus would be out for blood, so I bought my time. When my bike was blown up, I knew it was Augustus and I knew it was just the beginning of a war.

“How’d you know it was Augustus?” Bobby questions.

“I met the guy Babs’ niece was dating once, I knew he was one of Augustus’s boys by the green bandana,” Locks replies.

If he knew who the boyfriend was, and that Babs wasn’t going to let the situation go of the guy hitting her niece, then Locks set Babs up. My fingers twitch with urge to throttle my betraying brother.

“Anyway, I came to Augustus with a deal, and in return I would be protected from his retaliation,” he finishes, his tone calm and casual like this should all make sense.

“What deal?” Bull growls.

“He gave me the location of every one of your girls,” Augustus says, stirring the pot of betrayal. “In fact, if Lover Boy hadn’t shown up, your daughter might have died in that night club.” He looks right at me and then to his left. I follow his line of sight and see the guy who was giving Dani a hard time that night at the club a while back.