More Than Miles (A Lost Kings MC Novel) (30 page)

N
ow I remember why I don’t spend a lot of time downstate. We’re all brotherly/friendly, on good terms now, but there’s a reason Sway’s president of the downstate charter, even though he started out in our charter. Most of the guys in his crew are dicks.

Bull, Sway’s Sergeant-at-Arms, has to be the worst, though.

He definitely hasn’t forgotten how I knocked his ass out for talking shit about Trinity and Serena after Hope’s wedding. I’ve been spending a lot of time down here, and he’s baited me in one way or another every chance he gets.

“Why don’t we just take this outside, bro? Have a nice sparring match?” I suggest with a cold grin stretched across my face. Lots of Lost Kings at this party to witness me legitimately kick Bull’s ass. Tonight’s a good opportunity to end this once and for all

“Nah, I don’t want to embarrass you in front of the girls.” He nods to CeCe, a club girl who’s been giving me subtle hints about visiting my room all night long. She seems nice enough. Pretty girl, too, but at the moment I’m more interested in pounding my fists into Bull’s face than pounding pussy.

“Come on, Bull. I got twenty on Murphy to whoop your ass,” Sway shouts.

Aw, isn’t that sweet?

Finally, we amble outside. Someone constructs a makeshift ring. Or rather cleans up the one that’s already there.

“Ain’t gonna sucker punch me tonight, fucker,” Bull grumbles while he tapes up his hands.

My mouth twists into a grin. I haven’t given that punch a whole lot of thought since it happened, but obviously Bull’s been nursing his wounded pride. “Learn to watch your mouth and show respect, and I wouldn’t have to knock you out.”

He spits at my feet. “Fuck you, choosing ass over brothers.”

“You disrespected
my brother’s
girl.”

He shakes head as if he doesn’t get the concept.

With outsiders, it’s fuck with one, you take us all on. Between brothers? No one’s gonna stop this fight. Not unless one of us is half-dead or taps out.

Nothing but imminent death will force me to tap out.

I used to think Wrath’s whole fighting, getting the shit kicked out of him thing to unleash his anger, was fuckin’ nuts. But I find myself eager to pound the piss out of Bull and not really caring if I take a beating in return. If Wrath were here, he’d probably recommend I tire Bull’s out-of-shape ass and then go with an uppercut to the jaw or temple. So, that’s my plan.

“What’s wrong, Murphy? Still sulking over your buddy’s slutty little sister?”

Unrestrained anger pulses through me at the low taunt. But I’m not completely stupid. He’s using shit like that to provoke me. I grin at him instead, which seems to confuse him.

Shadow, one of Sway’s guys, gives us the go ahead.

Bull’s not only dumb as an ox, he lumbers like one, too. Around and around the dirty square, throwing fake punches to, I don’t know what, scare me? He’s drunker than fuck. I’ll go easy on him. Maybe I won’t bother tiring him out, and I’ll just put him down for the night with a swift punch. Fuck knows I’ve done it before.

A few rounds later, I’m rethinking my strategy. What was supposed to be a simple sparring match and puttin’ on a show for the rest of the club has turned into a nasty brawl.

“Bring it, old man,” I taunt, but I don’t think he hears me.

Sweat, maybe blood, drips into my eyes. I shake it off and bounce up and down a few times on the balls of my feet. My next right hook connects with Bull’s jaw and snaps his head to the side. Fucker’s still on his feet, though. I must be gettin’ weak.

Pain explodes on my side and I back off. We circle each other again. Honestly, I’m pissed with myself for not ending this sooner.

After absorbing a left hook to my right pec, I have to rethink Bull’s impairment. His aim seems fine. He’s definitely aiming to knock the wind out of me. Thankfully, he doesn’t have a tremendous amount of power behind the blows. Otherwise, I’d be fucked.

The next time he moves in close for a body punch, I tighten my stomach and shift slightly so the blow lands on my side. Not gonna lie, it hurts, but my obliques take the brunt of it and I’m able to land a few solid hits of my own.

He backs off.

This time, I duck and jab my way in for a few body shots. It’s my hard right straight above his floating rib area that finally does him in. There’s a sickening squishing-crunch on impact. Bull drops to the ground and starts spewing.

Sway seems pissed that his guy lost, even though he claimed to bet on me, but he calls it, raising my hand and congratulating me.

A group of girls swarm around us. Each one vying to give me the congratulatory blowjob, I’m sure. At the back, I spot Serena and she raises an eyebrow. I finally make my way to her and she kisses my cheek.

“What’re you doing here?” I ask.

“Don’t be mad, I’m visiting my friend Lisa and heard you were here, so we came over. Thought I’d say hi.”

“I ain’t mad at all, darlin’. Good to see you.”

Her eyes shine with interest, and I’m uneasy about leading her on again. Any one of the bunnies at my back would be fine for the night. But I know Serena. She’s not a psycho bitch who will try to jack my wallet. She doesn’t feel the need to hang all over me in front of everyone. I can actually talk to her. I hold my bloodied hands out to her. “Come help me clean up?”

She gives me a flirty smile. “Sure, I’ll take care of you.”

Instead of any form of excitement or elation from the win, I’m
tired
. I sling an arm over her shoulders and lead her down the hall to my room

On our way, someone stops me, places a bottle of Jameson in my hand, and gives Serena an ice bag and first aid kit.

Glancing down at my throbbing hand, my middle knuckle’s swollen. Wrath would give me shit for my sloppy form.

When I shut the door to my room, Serena leans in to kiss me.

“Fix my hand first?” I ask, pulling away.

She blinks. “I can do that.”

Taking my hand, she tugs it toward her to inspect the damage. Gently, she prods each knuckle. I let out a pained hiss when she gets to the swollen one. “Does it hurt?”

“Nah.”

“You can tell me,” she teases.

“It stings,” I concede and she nods.

“Can you wiggle it for me?”

She focuses on my hand as I stretch and flex each finger.

“How’s school?” I ask.

She seems surprised and it bothers me. I’ve asked her about stuff like that before, haven’t I?

When she seems satisfied nothing’s broken, she grabs some antiseptic wipes, cleans and bandages my hand. “Good. I ended the semester with a three-point-seven.”

“That’s great.” I hope I don’t sound too shocked. It’s not that I think Serena’s dumb. We usually end up talking about me, the club, or not talking at all. I realize I don’t know a whole lot about her. “What’s your major again?” I ask as she takes my other hand, turning to inspect all four knuckles that got scraped by Bull’s teeth when I punched him in the mouth.

This whole situation is starting to remind me a little too much of when Heidi did something similar for me, and I have to sit down.

Concern creases Serena’s brow and she puts the back of her hand on my cheek. “Are you okay? He got a few good shots in.”

“Yeah. I’ll live. Tell me. What’s your major?”

“Exercise Science.”

I must look confused—that’s a thing?—because she rushes to explain. “When I’m done, I’ll transfer to a four-year school for sports medicine or occupational therapy. Something like that.” She grabs my hand again. “Ouch,” she whispers.

“I barely feel it.”

“You’ll feel it tomorrow.”

“Maybe.” I squeeze her hand. “You like it? School, I mean.”

“Oh, yeah.” She finishes taking care of my hand and dabs at my forehead. “We don’t have to talk about me, though. I want to take care of
you
.”

She sets all the supplies aside, and I slide one of my hands into her hair, pulling her in for a kiss. “Thank you.”

Her lips quiver into a nervous smile. “Sure.”

“I’m glad you’re here.”

One of her eyebrows shoots up and a voice in my head warns me not to reel her in again. It’s not right.

“Really?” she asks.

But I’m an asshole and do it anyway. “Yes, really.”

Serena and I spend the weekend together and don’t venture out into the club much. She’s the perfect way to distract myself from why I came down here in the first place.

Sunday morning, Tawny bangs on my door. She scowls when she sees Serena in my bed. “What?” I ask.

Her gaze roams over my bare chest, and I wish I’d taken the extra two seconds to put on a shirt. “Give me a second, Tawny.”

I duck inside to get dressed and Serena scurries into the bathroom.

“Okay, what’s up?” I ask.

“The cops are here,” she whispers.

Out of habit, I mentally go over anything I’m carrying that might be incriminating. “Why?”

She rolls her bottom lip. “They found Bull dead, out on route twenty.”

“Holy shit. Are you serious?”

She nods solemnly and twists her hands together. It’s unnerving because I’ve never seen Tawny in anything but one hundred percent biker bitch mode.

“They asked for you right away, Murphy. Someone told them about the fight Friday night.”

“So? I haven’t left here since Friday.”

She shrugs and motions for me to follow her.

Two plainclothes detectives are waiting for me outside. Naturally, Sway wouldn’t allow them inside without a warrant. I go with them willingly to get them away from Sway’s compound.

The questions they throw at me at the precinct make no sense.

“Wait a minute. I haven’t seen him since Friday night. We had a friendly boxing match outside and that was it.”

Friendly might be exaggerating a bit.

The one questioning me raises an eyebrow at my bandaged hands. “Yeah, but we heard you two have history.”

“History of what? We’re in the same club.”

One of the detectives rolls his eyes. “Yeah, ‘cause all you brothers are so close.”

Every brother in
my
club, yeah. Down here, not as much. But of course I won’t say that.

“We also heard you had an altercation a few months ago at your prez’s wedding over a different girl.”

Whoa.
Who the fuck would have told them that? Inside, I’m rattled, but I keep it together.

“We weren’t fighting over a girl Friday. We were just messing around. And the girl I knocked him out over is the same one I spent the entire weekend with. In fact, I was in bed with her when you guys showed up at the clubhouse.”

They don’t seem to like that, because it ruins their neat little theory.

“Who?”

I give them her name and they tell me to wait.

I’m waiting for a few
hours
before they come back. Someone comes in and allows me to make a phone call. Rock’s the logical one to call. He’s my president. Gotta let him know first. It’s possible Sway already called him, but that’s still who I dial first.

“I’ll get in touch with Glassman. Keep me updated,” he says.

Finally, the two assholes who brought me here come in. “All right. We verified your alibi. You managed to find the only articulate, classy piece of ass in that shithole clubhouse.”

“Watch it,” I growl.

He chuckles, happy he got a reaction out of me.

“One final thing, Mr. O’Callaghan. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about a barn that was burned to the ground last year, would you?”

“Barn? No,” I answer, genuinely confused.

Then, I remember. It was pitch black the night Sway drove us out to the middle of nowhere to collect a stolen shipment of guns. Sway and his guys had burned the place to the ground when we were done. But, we’d also left quite a few bodies behind that night.

The cops don’t mention the bodies, only the arson.

“You’re free to go back to the clubhouse or home to Empire. But I wouldn’t leave New York any time soon.”

“Not plannin’ to.”

I don’t expect Rock to be the one who shows up to collect me from the jail. He pulls me in for a quick hug. “You good?”

“Yeah. They got nothin’.”

Once we’re inside the car, he’s silent. We leave the police station, but a few miles down the road, Rock pulls over.

He turns and fixes his
give-it-to-me-straight
stare on me, and I know what’s coming.

“I’m only going to ask you this one time. You know I’ve got your back and the club has your back no matter what. Did you do it?”

I understand why he’s asking and I’m not insulted. “No. Fuck no. We boxed at Sway’s Friday. I worked him over pretty good. Sway called the match. I didn’t see Bull again after I left the ring. But he was breathing.”

“Well, they think he died sometime early Saturday morning.”

“I was with Serena until Sunday late morning. Like twenty-four-seven.”

He rolls his eyes. “You start that back up?”

My shoulders lift. “Might as well stick with what I know.”

“Yeah, well, she give a statement backing you up?”

“From what I heard, yeah.”

“Christ, you better not piss her off.”

“Nah, she ain’t like that. Even if we…she’s a good girl. She wouldn’t lie just to get even with me.”