Leave a Trail (Signal Bend #7)(101)

Finally, Isaac came off his third time on the ropes with a heavy punch to Show’s belly and another under his chin that rocked his head back, and Show went down with a thud that shook the concrete room.

Isaac leaned over him and roared.

Shannon gasped and took a couple of steps forward. Adrienne followed. Show did not get up. Len swung into the ring and went to his knees at Show’s head. He counted to ten.

Isaac dropped immediately to his knees. And then he fell over completely. Both men lay motionless.

Len went to Isaac. Badger went to Show.

The room was silent except for Len and Badger’s exhortations for the fighters to get up. Len looked up.

“Tash! Tash! Where’s Tasha?!”

Adrienne knew—or at least knew part of it—so she stepped up to the ropes, still cradling Joey in her arms. “She left when you went into the Keep.”

“Alone?”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck!” He dug into his pocket and came up empty. “I need my phone!” Double A ran out to toward the Hall.

Then Cory was pulling on Adrienne’s arm. Adrienne turned and saw that she had Millie. Where was Shannon? Adrienne looked around and saw her climbing into the ring.

Cory pulled again. “Come on back to the Hall with me, Adrienne. Let’s make some way. We don’t all need to stand around and watch.”

“But they’re okay, right? They didn’t just kill each other while we watched, right? Right?”

“Come on. I’m sure they’re okay, but we need to get out of the way.” When she pulled again, Adrienne came. As they approached the double doors, Lilli came through, her expression drawn and even angrier.

Kellen was right behind her, looking freaked out.



oOo



Isaac and Show were okay. Swollen, badly beaten, and concussed, but okay. Once Tasha got back to the clubhouse and tended to them, putting them both immediately to bed, the clubhouse cleared out. Badger left to trade his Harley for his truck so he could take both Adrienne and Hector home. They first went with him to the B&B while he did some work.

While he worked, Adrienne watched Hector and Weasel get acquainted. Weasel was not impressed.

Hector very much was. It was cute to watch.

Then Badger drove them home. They showered and got in bed, where they stayed, except to tend to Hector’s biological needs and their own, for the rest of the day.

It was dusk, and they were eating popcorn in bed, naked, watching a DVD on Adrienne’s new laptop.

Despite its rocky start, once it was clear that Isaac and Show hadn’t beaten each other to death, it had been a good day.

But they had yet to talk.

Adrienne paused the movie and closed her laptop. Turning to face him, she sat cross-legged. “Badge.

Tell me what’s going on. Why did Isaac and Show do that? Aren’t they best friends? Why was Lilli so mad?

And Tasha, too. What’s going on?”

Badger dumped back into the bowl the handful of popcorn he’d just grabbed and set the bowl aside.

“I haven’t figured out where the line should be with what you know, babe. I want you safe, and I don’t want you too freaked out.”

“Fuck that.”

His eyes got huge. “What?”

“I’m not a hothouse flower. I’m in this life. I want to know. I want to know how to shoot and how to protect myself. I want to know exactly what it is I’m worried about when you go away. That’s how you keep me safe. By not keeping me ignorant. And if I freak out, I’ll get over it.”

He smiled then, and it was full of love and pride. “Okay. Okay. I told you we’re going to fight the guys that hurt us last year. It’s a drug cartel.”

She couldn’t catch the gasp before it got away, but she didn’t react otherwise. She held his eyes and waited for him to go on.

“Turns out the Feds have a guy inside the cartel. He’s going to help us…take care of the man who ordered Hav’s death and what happened to us all that day.”

“’Take care.’ You mean…” She couldn’t say it out loud.

Badger didn’t answer, but he cocked his head and lifted his brows, and she understood that, yes, he meant ‘kill.’

“He’s been in the cartel for a long time. He has the whole club on charges that could put as all in prison until we die.”

“Badge, God. No!”

“Easy. He offered us a deal. It’s involved, and I’m not gonna give you those details. But it boils down this way: if we come out of the fight we’re heading to, he’s going to help us collect on that debt, and he’s not gonna take the club down. His price is Isaac and Len are going inside. For a pretty long time. Six years, at least.”

“Oh, my God. Oh, my God. But—Gia and Bo! I don’t—oh my God!”

“Yeah. It sucks. But what Isaac had planned before this deal was sure to get him killed. This is the best plan. It gets us free of the cartel, it gets justice for Hav, and it gets Isaac and Len home someday.”

“This is the kind of crap you’ve had stuffed in your head all this time? Badge, you have to tell me—for you, you have to tell me. You should be able to unload that.”

“You’ve already been through so much because of me, Adrienne. I lean hard on you already.”