Burned (Devil's Blaze MC, #2)(57)

She’s it.





“Where’s Beth’s sister?” Skull demands.

I’m standing in the bathroom at five in the morning and whispering on my phone like a f*cking loser. It upsets me. Katie deserves better. For the last couple of days, I’ve been letting Skull listen to our conversations. From the one in the diner before the Saints found us, to the one in the jeep, and even the conversation last night before I claimed Katie. Anything that might give Skull information to find Beth, I’ve been feeding back to my brother. It’s betrayal at its finest.

It would hurt Katie horribly, I know that, even if I am doing it to ultimately protect her, Beth, and Gabby. But Katie wouldn’t see it like that. I want to give her time to come to terms with everything, to decide that letting Skull and Beth come together and work things out was the best for all involved. With the Saints out there, that time has run out. I need to get Katie back to the club so I can keep her safe, and we need Beth and Gabby behind those walls too.

“She’s sleeping in the next room,” I whisper. “Let’s make this quick before she wakes up. What’s the recon on the Saints?”

“Just as you thought,” he answers back. “Colin called them in. They want both girls. The family is calling for their blood because they offed the old man. Half of them think that gives them ground to hang them. The other half are in love with them and want them to rule. Of course, the males want to claim them first. Jesus, that’s the most f*cked up family. It’s no wonder Beth is such a goddamn liar.”

“I don’t think she is, Skull. Didn’t you hear Katie? Their father used her to trap Beth.”

“Bullshit. All she had to do was tell me the whole story.”

“You expect a lot out of a young girl of nineteen who just found out her father wasn’t the man she had always thought. Not to mention one that found out her sister was still alive after all this time.”

“Just drop it, Torch. How I deal with Beth is none of your concern. She’ll pay for taking my child away from me. She’ll pay for lying to me. For nearly destroying me.”

“You need to make sure while you’re making her pay that you don’t destroy what you might find together now, brother. Love is rare. You have the child to think about now.”

“What’s making you so f*cking philosophical?” he asks.

I could tell him it’s because of what I’ve found with Katie. He’s not in the frame of mind to hear it, though. “I just happen to think Beth was faced with… an impossible situation.”

“Whatever. Do you have your computer there?”

“Yeah.” I juggle the phone with my shoulder, trying to hold the laptop still enough to type. The phone falls as a result. I pick it back up, putting it on speakerphone and setting it on the sink. “You’re on speaker so, for the love of God, speak quietly.”

“You sure are awful concerned with some bitch you just met, hermano,” Skull counters, his voice tense.

“I don’t want to upset her until I get her home behind our walls. You don’t know her like I do, Skull. She’s a runner.”

“Just how well do you know her, Torch? Been using your polla to keep her in line so she doesn’t know we’re using her as bait?” Skull asks.

His words make me sick. We’re no better than Katie’s dad, put like that. Sure, I’m doing it to protect her, but still I’m using her to get Beth. That’s what it comes down to, even if I care for her. No, that’s not right. I love her. She’s the first woman I’ve met who makes me glad to have her around, who makes me smile, laugh, scream… She’s it for me, and I have no idea how I’m going to make all of this right. I just know I need to.

“Boss, just give me the coordinates,” I say, getting upset, more with myself than him. I don’t know how I got in this situation.

He rattles off the coordinates that Diesel’s crew gave him. It’s supposed to lead to a piece of property that Colin’s been using. He wants me to tap into the street cameras that the city put up. The property is on the Tennessee state line. It takes some hacking, but not a lot. I get it up on the computer. It looks like an abandoned business that has the gates closed and padlocked. You can’t really see in, but there are armed guards at the entrances.

“They’re definitely up to something, boss. I can run the feed through the system there,” I tell him. “It might be worth having some men go check it out. Katie and I are about two hours away from the club. I can go later this evening,” I offer, not wanting to, but I know I need to help bring an end to this shit. I need it behind us, not only for the club, but I want to keep convincing Katie of our future. I can’t do that as long as there’s more crap from the Donahues coming at us.”

“No,” Skull says as I finish setting the feed up so it will transmit into Skull’s office. “You need to keep playing Beth’s sister. You’re doing good there. She’s letting her guard down with you. I could tell while you were letting me listen in last night. Keep working her, do whatever you have to do. I want Beth found and back here. I could tell last night when you let me listen in that Katie was close to telling you where Beth was. A few more nudges by you, and she’ll cave.”

His words burn me from the inside. Jesus, f*ck. Is that what I’ve been doing? I wanted to help Skull, but I thought by letting him listen to Katie talk, he could see what I see: that she loves her sister, that her and Beth aren’t doing things to hurt Skull, that they’ve been abused and used by their family for so f*cking long that they just don’t trust anyone…