Sicko(77)

“Yeah?” I can almost hear the satisfaction in his voice. Must be a deep blood bath in that basement right now.

“Jade is in trouble. Has to do with Diamond. He sent me a fucking video of her tied and gagged with a fucking mask on.”

Silence.

I carry on. “Turns out Wicked says she was in his den.”

“You got enough men with you?”

“Yeah, I think. Just put the word out to the Nevada chapter. Might need them to roll in if shit goes south. Don’t know how many people Diamond has on his bankroll.”

Lion grunts on the other line. “They’re already here, almost at the clubhouse. Along with New Mexico and Oregon. Idaho and Texas wanted in, but I held them back for now. Gonna be a lot of angry fuckers at the clubhouse over the next few days.”

“Good.” I grind my teeth, biting back the satisfaction that brings me. “Perfect.”

“Sort your woman out.” Lion’s voice is thick. “And Royce, don’t be a fucking idiot with her and go in guns blazing ready to rip her apart. Let her explain.”

I hang up on him without answering. I don’t need anyone in my head where Jade is concerned. She occupies all the space I have available as it is.

“He’s right,” Wicked murmurs.

“Shut the fuck up. Tell me everything.”

Wicked shuffles in his chair. “Remember the day you all got thrown into my den?”

Yeah…



“We shouldn’t be running or fighting him. Something tells me whoever this sick fuck is, he’s smart. Smarter than even Storm,” Orson said, bouncing the ball between his legs and passing it to me.

I shrugged. “He’s fucking human, man. If we give him the power now, who the fuck knows the kind of shit he’s going to pull with us over the years.” I flicked my wrist and shot from the three-point line.

Orson caught my rebound. “I say we make it clear where we stand right the fuck now.” We were supposed to be out of the Bay Area fucking yesterday, and although I want to rebel against whoever this fucker is, something tells me that he isn’t someone you want to fuck with.

“Except we’re gambling with Jade and the rest of our family.” I go to steal the ball from under the hoop, bouncing backward to shoot up.

“I think he’s full of shit.” Storm, the most he has said since this whole thing kicked off.

I paused mid-bounce. “And why is that?”

“Why us? Why? He’s just trying to either pull a prank or fuck with us. I say, fuck him.” He pulled his aviator glasses down to cover his eyes.

“Alright,” Orson said, swiping the sweat from his forehead and tossing the towel back onto the pool chair. “We should tell our parents. They’re powerful, let’s utilize it.”

Clasping my gold chain back around my neck, I nod my head. “Yeah, my dad is in his office. We’ll start with him.”



“Your old man is right,” Orson said after we left his office and headed back to my room. Jade wasn’t home yet, which made me antsy. I sent her off a quick text message to ask her what time she would be back and tell her that she was late. A few minutes later she sent back the middle finger emoji. My fingers flew over my keypad before I sent off the word: brat.

I pushed my phone back into my pocket and kicked my leg up on the desk. “Yeah, he didn’t want us to say anything to your parents. He said he would handle it. I trust him.”

“You do?” Storm murmured flatly, opening his laptop.

“Why would I not? He’s my dad.” His answer was weird, but that was Storm.

He shrugged. “I just wasn’t so sure.”

Orson picked up the basketball that was beside my bed and started spinning it around the tip of his finger. “So now we wait.”

“We wait.”



I remembered nothing. Blank spots filled my memory as I lifted my hand up to touch my head. Blindfolded. “Fuck!”

“Roy?” Orson called out from somewhere in the room.

“Yeah, bro. It’s me. Storm?”

Storm grunted roughly from behind me. “Here.”

“Are you all blindfolded too?”

“Yes,” Orson hollered, with the sound of his jeans shuffling against the ground. “You remember anything after being in your room?”

“No,” I answered tightly, my muscles tensing as I tugged on the binds around my wrists. “Nothing after falling asleep.” We all crashed in my room eventually, waiting for my dad to “handle it.”

Hands tucked beneath my blindfold, tearing it off. A boy around my age with wide shoulders and short hair was glaring down at me with cold, distant eyes. “Don’t try to fight anything,” he says. “Just go with it.” I reared back from him, snarling.

“How do I know that Diamond isn’t you?”

Wicked stares at me blankly. Unnerved and unfazed. “Because I’m not.”

“And we’re supposed to believe you?” Orson said, snarling. “Boy, take my blindfold off.”

“I’d listen to him,” I said, spitting the blood that’s pooling in my mouth. He moves to Orson, removing his blindfold and ties around his wrist before shifting to Storm.

“I’m Lenox, and I ain’t fucking him.”