Circle of Death (26 page)

“You’re right,” Devlin nods, grabbing onto my hands. “We’ll get them back, Logan.”

“Get the fuck away from there!” we hear Brutus roar. He’s swinging at desperate men and women scrambling to get onto the Circle of Death’s boat. The masses could overwhelm and sink the ship in their panic.

“Devlin, we’ve got to get out of here,” Xan insists from the deck of the boat. “We’re running out of time.”

“I can’t leave without Packer and Jules,” Devlin tells his brothers, “Just stall out here while we go back to look—”

“There’s no time for that!” Otis yells from beside Xan.

“Get on the goddamn boat, Vile!” Lobo roars.

“Just hold things down here, boys. Make sure none of these rich sons of bitches swarm you. Logan and I will go back for Jules and Packer. We can all make it out of this together, I know it.”

Though they disagree with their president, the brothers clench their teeth and draw their weapons, leveling their sights at the people trying to board the boat. Dean extends a hand to Emma, who looks back at me in terror.

“Go on,” I urge her, “You’ll be safe with them.”

My best friend nods and accepts Dean’s hand, scrambling onto the boat with Titan on her heels. The rest of the men and women on the dock back away from the slew of guns the MC men hold pointed at them.

“All right,” Devlin says to me, “Let’s do this, Logan.”

We clasp hands and square our shoulders to the smoldering club. But just as we move to take our first step, a sickeningly sweet laugh rings out across the dock. From the shadows of the forest, the figure of a slight man emerges, his thick glasses glimmering in our escape boat’s headlights. Backlit by the growing blaze of The Club, he advances toward us. And he’s not alone, either. In his wake come a dozen burly men, silent and menacing, each armed with military-grade assault rifles. The other frightened patrons give up their attempts to board our boat in a heartbeat and dash off into the darkened woods. Better stranded than riddled with bullets.

“Klein,” Devlin snarls at the small man as he approaches.

“Mr. Vile,” the little man returns. “You certainly know how to make an exit.”

I recognize his high-pitched voice at once. He was the one urging on my would-be rapists from the speaker in my cell. My stomach turns with disgust as he comes nearer, but I hold my head up high.

“I don’t want any more bloodshed here tonight,” Devlin says, taking a step to block me from the line of assault weapons pointed right at us. “We just want Packer and Juliet back, and we’ll be on our way.”

“Packer and Juliet...” the man called Klein muses. “Would that be the burly blonde man of your acquaintance and the beautiful woman soldered to his side?”

“Yes,” I breathe, “Give them back to us.”

A round of laughter goes up among the dozen armed men circling the dock. Klein smiles serenely, shaking his head.

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible,” he says lightly. I feel my blood run cold as he goes on, his hands clasped behind his back. “It was a good plan, starting that fire in the casino. You were able to get out of your cells, just as they planned. I doubt very much that your two friends are quite as impervious to flames as these stone walls. We made sure to corral them inside before we sealed the exits. Very considerate of them, to build their own funeral pyre.”

A roaring wail tears out of my throat at Klein’s words. I expect to collapse, to fold in on myself in despair. But instead, I feel my legs pumping beneath me as I lunge for the little man’s throat. Devlin catches me before I can launch myself at the tiny, despicable killer.

“Go!” Dev screams.

“Kill them all,” Klein says with a smile.

Gunfire erupts all around me, like a series of miniature thunderclaps. The brothers of the Circle of Death open fire on Klein’s guard, as the men of The Club return the volley. Devlin and I tear through the crossfire, sprinting across the uneven boards of the dock toward the waiting boat. Dev catches me up in his strong arms and all but tosses me up to Titan before clambering onto the deck himself.

“Get below deck,” Devlin commands me. It’s an order I don’t hesitate to follow.

I race down below as we tear away from the shore, gunfire raining down upon us still. Emma is huddled down here already, weeping with fear. I throw my arms around my best friend, pulling her tightly against my chest. I’m too far gone, too shocked to cry just yet. I know the torrent is coming, but for as long as Emma is still in danger, I have a job to do that distracts me from my own anguish. I’ll protect her, see her safely back to shore. I can still protect someone I care about tonight.

We sail on, cutting through the high waves of the Atlantic. At long last, the gunfire ceases. Only then do I trust that we’ve truly escaped The Club’s grasp. At least, for now. Overcome, Emma sinks into a troubled slumber, her tiny form curled against mine. And as the motion of the boat stabilizes, I allow myself to drift off to sleep, too. This time, however, I don’t even bother praying to wake from the nightmare scene of this evening.

I know in my heart that I never will.

“Logan. Logan, babe. Wake up,” Devlin murmurs above me.

I jerk myself out of my shallow slumber, my every muscle aching. Devlin’s dark eyes hover just before mine, brimming with concern and heartache. Titan stands beside him, ready to take care of Emma. I gently shake my friend awake, smoothing down her blonde hair as she rises out of slumber.

“Did we make it?” she asks, her voice soft and high.

“Depends what you mean,” Devlin says solemnly, helping me to my feet. “We’re back to the mainland at least.”

We make our way up to the deck. Morning sunlight is just beginning to brighten the sky above us. The boat, riddled with bullet holes but afloat all the same, is docked beside a rocky shoreline. A few other boats are moored alongside this one, each bearing the sigil of the Circle of Death. Titan leads Emma away, giving Devlin and me a moment alone.

“Where are we?” I ask Devlin, my voice ragged and hollow.

“We’re home,” he says, wrapping an arm protectively around my waist. “This is our headquarters.”

I look up and see a series of old structures built into the pier. It’s a place without flourish, without frills. I’ve been so curious to see the MC’s headquarters, so eager to start my life here. But I can’t find an ounce of joy or enthusiasm in my heart now.

“It’s true, isn’t it? What Klein told us,” I whisper, raising my eyes to Devlin’s.

“We can’t be certain,” he says, his jaw clenching, “But I can feel it in my gut, Logan.”

“So can I,” I admit, my heart threatening to burst into a thousand bitter shards. “They’re really gone, aren’t they? Packer and Jules...”

He doesn’t reply, simply pulls me into a crushing embrace. The tears I’ve been swallowing finally rise in my eyes, spilling out of me in a rush of despair. My whole body is wracked with sobs as the reality of our loss washes over me. The shock of this discovery, the memory of the men who I very likely left for dead, it’s all too overwhelming.

“It’s not just them,” Devlin finally manages to say.

“Wh-what?” I stammer, looking up at him through tear-washed eyes.

“The fire fight,” he goes on, his voice thick with grief. “We took down a good few of Klein’s men, but...”

“No,” I breathe, steadying myself against Dev’s solid form. “Who—?”

“Otis,” he replies, letting his head hang. “We lost Otis in the fight.”

I throw my arms around Devlin’s shoulders, clutching him to me. We stand together on the pier, the sky lightening overhead. A new day is dawning, our first having escaped the clutches of Leviathan, of The Club. But any sense of victory has been dashed—murdered alongside our brothers and sister. Returning to our new life together was supposed to be joyous, revelatory. But now, it’s steeped in tragedy.

“We all could have been killed,” Devlin growls, shaking his head. “The entire club. You...It would have been my fault. All of this is my fault.”

“No,” I say fiercely, catching his face in my hands. “This is Klein’s fault. Leviathan’s fault. Not yours.”

“I led my brothers into danger. I never should have brought them out to that rock,” he goes on, staring out across the choppy sea.

“You did everything you could to get them home safely,” I whisper fiercely.

“Packer. Jules,” he utters mournfully, unable to speak their names without pain.

“I know,” I whisper, laying a kiss on his scruffy cheek. “But they’re gone, Devlin. We have to help each other through this, now.”

He looks down at me, as if surprised by my words. “You’ll...you’ll stay with me?” he breathes, disbelieving. “After everything that’s happened?”

“There’s nowhere else I want to be,” I tell him fiercely. “Now more than ever.”

Devlin brings his lips to mine, kissing me hard and deep. Our hearts are shattered, our future uncertain. But through all the danger and destruction, the terror and the rage, we have each other. And we’ll find a way to keep on living—for those we’ve lost, for ourselves, and most importantly, for each other.

Epilogue

The Circle of Death Clubhouse

Three Months Later

I pull the thick flannel shirt more tightly around my body as the cool September wind skirts across the water. The salty breeze tosses my black hair as I stand at the edge of the pier, looking out across the early evening sea. It feels like a lifetime ago that we arrived back here at the Circle of Death headquarters, fleeing from the deranged men of the Leviathan Corporation. But at the same time, the memories of that night, that week, are as deliciously and painfully fresh as if they happened yesterday. The best and worst hours of my entire life so far occurred within the space of that week. It’s no wonder I’m still processing everything that happened.

The reassuring sound of an approaching Harley’s motor catches my ear. Looking over my shoulder, I watch as four huge bikes roar into the Circle of Death compound. The boys are back from their run. I dash across the sturdy boards as the men dismount—Leon, Lobo, Dean, and in the lead, Devlin Vile. My man lifts off his half shell helmet and shoves a hand through his jet black hair. Seeing me, he breaks into a grateful grin. He still looks pleasantly surprised every time he comes back to find me waiting here. But I suppose that’s only fair. The experiment of our shared life is still pretty new.

“How did it go?” I ask, wrapping my arms around Devlin’s hard torso.

“Well as can be expected,” he replies, slinging an arm over my shoulder.

“The rest of the chapters are pretty shaken up about what Leviathan tried to pull with us,” Leon says, as we make our way to the clubhouse.

“We had to crush a bit of dissent,” Lobo growls, “There were some members who thought we ought to have just let those fuckers buy us out.”

“Are you serious?” I ask angrily.

“Don’t worry. Those members have been...dealt with,” says Dean. He walks at Devlin’s other side, standing a little taller now that he wears the VP patch. The title was passed along to him in the wake of Packer’s death. Dean’s one of the youngest members around here, just a little bit older than me. But he’ll make an amazing vice president, all of us think so.

I lean a little closer to Devlin, happy to consider myself a part of the “us” that is The Circle of Death. After we escaped from The Club and hightailed it back here, I was finally able to get the story of Leviathan’s deception straight. Emma told me everything she knew before beating it back to Boston. After I turned down the
FootSolider
assignment, Elliot Simmons tracked Emma down and told her as much as she could. Elliot’s hands had been tied by Leviathan for a long time—the note of warning she sent along with Emma was the extent of what she could do for me. Since getting back to the mainland, I’ve seen plenty of blog posts and articles reporting that Elliot has disappeared. I can only hope she’s finally escaped the clutches of the Corporation, that they haven’t caught up to her just yet.

Devlin and I step into the clubhouse, out of the chilly evening air. At once, I feel relieved. Safe within these walls. It’s only been a few months, but the Circle of Death clubhouse has come to feel more like home than anywhere I’ve ever lived. The solid oak bar, the wide wooden floor boards and exposed brick walls, the rows and rows of liquor bottles and the handful of familiar faces all around all serve to put me at ease. I never understood before this summer what Juliet must have seen in the outlaw way, but now I know full well why she chose this life for herself.