Stay Vertical (The Bare Bones MC #2)(52)
“We don’t use cops,” Madison sneered. “Our club is our BOLO.”
Lytton was barely paying attention. “June? What’s that?”
June had squeaked a few syllables. Lytton flung himself onto the seat next to her like an eager dog to hear what she had to say. They had wrapped someone’s down jacket around her, and he grabbed the lapels now. “What’d you say, my love?”
Her answer was as inevitable as dawn. “Iso. Look for Iso. He handcuffed me, beat me, left me for dead. Get that motherf*cker. Take him down. He’s pissed at you ‘cause you shot him in the foot.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
LYTTON
It was amazing the organization that went into the operation.
Once June was safely in the hands of the doctors at Madison’s hospital, Lytton sprung into his new action plan. He had a lot of crow to eat, he knew, and a lot of maneuvering and extrication tactics to get himself and others out of the mess that had been created. He had Madison call Ford. She told him to be at A Joint Effort at two o’clock with his top officers. She wouldn’t do it until Lytton promised he was on their side.
“I forgive Ford,” he said, point-blank. They were in the ER waiting room while doctors worked on June. She had a broken nose and her jaw needed wiring. Brunhilda and a few other old ladies milled around shooting Lytton darts from their eyes, and Toby was draped in a chair lifelessly, completely in shock at seeing Helium Head’s body that was beaten to death with a hammer. Crybaby sat blankly next to him, this time not crying. “I understand now why he did what he did. That would be something that’d be impossible to get over, and I guess I had to’ve been there to really feel the impact of Cropper’s actions. Madison, I was lashing out, reacting because I’d just discovered Cropper even was my father.”
“I do understand. You were in turmoil. Now you just have to figure out how to undo all the damage you’ve done with The Cutlasses.”
“I can prove to Ford I’m on his side. I have knowledge of some shit that’s going to go down at A Joint Effort at three this afternoon. Not only will I prevent that shit from happening but I will help nail the perpetrators and The Bare Bones will once again be safe from all rivals.”
Madison was understandably skeptical. “Well. Never ride faster than your guardian angel can fly.”
“Listen, June has changed me,” Lytton insisted. “I was a hard, callous, worldly *, riddled with demons. But you know what? June’s innocence, her purity, her cheerful and positive outlook on life, that’s all gotten underneath my skin. Did you know I made her my old lady two days ago? I did. I know it’s a feeble-ass leather cuff she’s wearing, but I’m getting her a collar studded with real diamonds before this is done. Seeing her beaten within an inch of her life was a game changer, Madison. I know how Ford felt now. I know that a brother will do anything to protect his old lady. Anything,” he echoed.
Madison softened. “I believe you love her,” she said grudgingly. “I’m sure at first you just wanted to use her to get back at Ford, but I saw how you acted up in your playroom. That wasn’t fake. You were truly terrified to death for her safety. As a nurse, I’ve seen hundreds of incidents like that. You’d be surprised how some close family members honestly could care less whether their ‘loved ones’ expire or not. It’s really disheartening. I’m not as cheerful and optimistic as June because of what I’ve seen.”
“So will you do it? I have lots of apologies to make, and to Turk too.”
Eventually Madison caved when she realized time was running out. As a good old lady, she didn’t ask what was going down at three, but she got Ford and his brothers to drop what they were doing and agree to meet him. It was difficult for Lytton to get Toby to agree to come. He’d seen enough in the past couple of days. But Lytton needed him to repair whatever damage his Assassin’s Creed virus had done to the computer.
“Besides,” Toby moped now as they inched their way toward A Joint Effort’s storefront, “when August sees me, he’s going to rip me a new interface, to say the least. My game brought down his entire computer system.”
Ford reached for A Joint Effort’s front door. There being no windows, he couldn’t peek inside and assay the situation. “Oh, you don’t know that. For all you know, you just gave him a righteous game to play. We don’t know that the virus worked.”
“My best friend is dead,” Toby whined, “and we can’t even take his body to the morgue because we’re afraid of cops.”
“I thought I was your best friend.” Lytton wanted to tell Toby to buck up, or something equally as asinine, but the truth was, they were pretty f*cked.
Just how f*cked was evident when they entered the store. Even the security guard was glaring at them with folded arms, not bothering to ask them for their medical cards. He sure did lock the door behind them in a hurry, though, and Lytton had to face a wall of leather-clad bikers.
He could do it. He’d already dealt with the worst—Iso’s near-murder of June Shellmound. He had confronted these bastards—his potential brothers—before, at the airplane hangar when he’d told Ford in no uncertain terms he was dead to him. Now, the giant pizza-faced cholo, Tuzigoot, looked him up and down, his jaw working as he ground his teeth. The ink-covered stud Ziggy actually wore some brass knuckles that he cracked. Faux Pas, June’s brother Speed, August, the limping guy from the archery range, Duji, Wild Man, Gollywow, they all stood in a line facing Lytton down as though in a very unfair western.