Twisted Pieces (19 page)

Gram raised a finger.
“
I was always honest. I never
lied. There were just some things you weren't ready to know. You came to me and
you were broken. A broken little girl. And there I was, mourning the loss of my
son and my daughter-in-law. Jordyn, as much as I raised you, you helped keep me
young and gave me something to live for. Now, for what I wanted to tell you.
About that man out there. His beliefs are strong. He has conviction. Stand by
him."

“
You
only met him once, Gram.
”

“
That's
all it takes, my dear. I only get one chance to meet someone now. So I have to
make it count. If he says he loves you, believe him. If you love him, trust in
that.
”

“
I
love you, Gram,
”
Jordyn
whispered. She bent down and kissed her grandmother
’
s hand.

“
I
love you, Jordyn. Now quit wasting your time with me and go enjoy that man out
there. Oh, those arms. And those eyes. They could make an old woman like me
sweat.
”

Jordyn gasped.
“
Gram! That
’
s
…
just
…
ew.
”

Gram laughed and then turned her
head. Her eyes started to shut and she lifted her hand.
“
Let me get some rest. Come visit me later.
”

Jordyn left the room and found Jace
standing with one foot against the wall. His thumbs were in his pockets and he
smiled when he saw her.

That
’
s
when she knew. Jace was now her world.

Jordyn ran to him and jumped in the
air. Jace pushed forward and caught her. They hugged and they kissed.

“
I
’
m not holding anything back,
”
Jordyn whispered.
“
I love you. I
’
m in love with you.
”

“
That
’
s so good to hear, babe,
”
Jace said as he kissed Jordyn.
“
Because I fucking love you too.
”

nineteen.

Miller took his seat at the head of
the table. He twisted the cap off a fresh bottle of beer and took a drink. The
table was finally full again. Seeing the tired look on Miller
’
s face worried Jace. There were
questions but no answers.

“
It
’
s a tough time out there,
”
Miller said.
“
There was a time when our only enemies
wore leather and wanted to put a bullet between our eyes. Things change. Life changes.
You must adapt. That
’
s
where we
’
re at.
”
Miller looked around the table.
“
There
’
s drugs being moved around, but
for some reason we can't figure out how and where. I don
’
t like that. We have Jace
’
s woman inside with Strokner and it
’
s becoming more and more clear
that he
’
s going to become
an enemy soon.
”

“
He
was always a fucking enemy,
”
Jace said.
“
He was just convenient.
”

“
The
convenience is worn out,
”
Nate said. He took a drag of a smoke and then put it out.

“
I
agree,
”
Miller said.
“
But we can
’
t just kick in a top floor
office and start shooting, can we?
”

“
Not
while Jordyn is with him," Jace said.

“
No,
we
’
d be smarter,
”
Blaine said.
“
If we took out
…”
Blaine looked at Shay and
nodded.
“…
Caius
…
we can take out Strokner.
”

“
Is
he involved with the drugs?
”
Landon asked.
“
I mean, it
all seems so interesting, doesn
’
t
it?
”

Miller nodded.
“
I
’
ve
thought about that. But I don
’
t
think that
’
s the case here.
Strokner doesn
’
t gain by
dealing drugs. Not at the street level. He
’
s
big on his money and being legit. He never did a damn thing wrong in his life.
”

“
But
he wants us out,
”
Jace
said.
“
If he grabs that
land
…”

“
Fuck
that,
”
Miller said.
“
That
’
s years old political bullshit going on. They want
to use him. That
’
s all. Let
him try and get the land.
”
Miller leaned forward.
“
He
won
’
t have the time to
complete the purchase, okay? I
’
m
looking at this like two situations. Right now, I want more from Jordyn. I want
something concrete.
”

“
She
was in the meeting with Strokner and the other guys, and then he showed her the
land listing. It
’
s pretty damn
clear what
’
s happening
…”

“
Doesn
’
t connect with the drugs though,
”
Shay said.
“
I wonder if Caius did this.
Planted more messes for us.
”

“
I
saw that boat,
”
Jace said.
“
This is Coast Road's doing. They
’
re moving shit somehow.
”

“
We
’
ll figure it all out,
”
Miller said.
“
Maybe even sooner than you
think.
”

“
What
the hell does that mean?
”
Jace asked.

“
A
friend called and said there was a boat coming toward the shore,
”
Miller said.
“
Looked a little shady he said. It
could just be some asshole using a vacation day from their job to fish. Or
another deal is about to go down.
”

Jace stood up.
“
Then I
’
m going. Right now. I'm done fucking around with
this.
”

“
Easy,
”
Miller said, glaring at Jace.
“
Easy. I want to talk about what
happened with that judge and his kid.
”

“
Are
you kidding me?
”
Jace
asked.

“
You
told a kid to stab people?
”

“
No,
”
Jace said.
“
That
’
s what he did to protect himself.
”

“
Well,
bravo,
”
Miller said and
grinned. He leaned back in his chair.
“
His
father had to take leave in order to handle the mess. It
’
s a real shit storm right now. That
’
ll keep that prick away from the
case. I talked to our lawyer earlier and right now you're in the clear. There's
no evidence and the judge is preoccupied. So nothing is going to happen anytime
soon.
”

“
Genius
move,
”
Blaine said.
“
And to think you were going to
kill that kid. Fuck, if anything, you went out recruited another prospect for us.
”

Everyone chuckled. Jace didn
’
t. He wasn
’
t in the mood to laugh. He
wanted to see this Coast Road deal go down. Then he wanted to gut them all. And
finally, he wanted to tear Jordyn away from Strokner so the MC could take care
of business. By the time it was all done, Back Down Devil would make damn sure
everyone knew they were in complete control of things in Frelen.

“
That
’
s a hell of a point,
”
Miller said.
“
Keep that kid close. Maybe we can
use him.
”

“
Jesus
Christ,
”
Griffin said.
“
We're utilizing innocent kids
now?
”

“
Relax,
”
Miller said.
“
Back on topic here
…”

“
I
’
m going alone,
”
Jace said.

“
Like
hell,
”
Nate said.

“
So
what
’
s the plan?
”
Jace asked.
“
We fucking ride down there like
a bunch of assholes to do what? Break up their fun?
”

Jace looked around the table.

“
What
’
s your plan then?
”
Gaige asked.

“
I
’
ll ride down,
”
Jace said.
“
Let me see what
’
s happening. If they
’
re making an exchange, it
’
s going to happen. We don
’
t even know who their supplier
is. Or what that supplier is capable of. I think if there
’
s one thing we
’
ve learned lately it
’
s not to underestimate our
enemies.
”

“
Shit,
”
Blaine said, smacking the
table.
“
He
’
s right.
”

“
They
’
ll see you,
”
Landon said.

“
What
if they come at you, like they did to us the last time?
”
Miller asked.

Jace looked right at Miller.
“
Then we know this shit goes very
deep.
”

“
You
’
re willing to put yourself out
there like this?
”
Griffin
asked.
“
We could just as
easily send a prospect out.
”

“
No,
”
Jace said.
“
I
’
m
tired of waiting. And hiding. I wasted so much time in prison. I want this done
today. I want my girl out of Strokner
’
s
fucking hands. I want him dead
…”

“
A
lot of want for someone not wearing a patch,
”
Miller said and nodded down to his President
’
s
patch.

“
Yeah,
well, I
’
m sorry about that,
”
Jace said.

Miller looked around the table. He
nodded.
“
Blaine, Gaige,
Shay. Ride with him. Split off a mile away. Jace, roll in alone and back out.
Don
’
t linger. If shit hits
the fan, fire a shot and that
’
s
the warning to these guys. Get back here in one piece. And don
’
t start a fucking war.
”

Miller pounded the gavel and
pointed to the door.

Jace turned and stormed out of the
room. He didn
’
t look at
anything but the door to the clubhouse. He hustled to his ride and was moving
before the other guys were even out the door.

Jace was pissed off about having
three guys behind him, but he understood it. The club wanted to protect him,
and that made him feel good.

Flying through Frelen, Jace was
focused. He worked his way toward the beach. Seeing the water, the waves, the
people, some on vacation, some playing hooky, it was such an incredible
contrast to the life Jace lived.

Jace checked his mirror and saw
Gaige, Blaine, and Shay drop back. Now Jace was alone. As much as he wanted to
speed and throttle his beast and go screaming right into the Coast Road deal,
he knew he had to be alert and smart. So he coasted down the road as far as he
could. In the distance he spotted the large rock in the ocean where the last
deal went down.

Jace pulled to the side of the road
and turned off his engine. He was going to walk down as far as needed to see
some action before making a decision. And that decision was simple. Jace was
going to kill them.

That was the only way to actually
end this.

Miller would have a fit and for all
Jace knew, he
’
d be stripped
of his cut. If that happened, Jace would take Jordyn by the hand and they
’
d be gone. He could finally see
the possibility of a life outside of the club, and he wasn't sure whether he
should feel good about that or scared that he didn't need the club to make him
happy anymore.

But first, Jace had to see
something.

There was nowhere to hide out.
There were some rocks and sand dunes, but nothing more than that. The boardwalk
had ended a few hundred feet back. That
’
s
where most of the Coast Road MC hung out and did their business, but for their
shipments, it appeared they moved elsewhere.

Jace stopped moving when he saw a
few guys from Coast Road. They were standing on the other side of the rocks,
near a small fishing boat. It looked like the boat Jace saw, but it wasn
’
t the same exact one.

They were using a different boat
each time. It brought less attention to the destination and the cause. It was a
smart move, too smart for the dumb fucks in Coast Road MC, which meant there
definitely was more powerful hands in this deal.

Jace continued to walk slowly,
crouching the best he could so he wouldn
’
t
be spotted. Then again, being dressed in a black leather cut, walking along the
rocks and sand dunes wasn
’
t
much camouflage. If this was a decent enough operation, a sniper should be
readying to blow his head off.

But that wasn't happening yet.

Jace crept forward a few hundred
more feet. He got closer to the shore where there was a wall of black and slimey
looking rocks. The waves crashed with their soothing sound. Crouching again,
Jace had a little more protection behind the rocks. A warm breeze shot off the
water and under any other circumstances, it would have been a nice feeling.

As Jace waited, he reached for his
gun. There was a chance his shot wouldn
’
t
be able to hit anyone or anything from this distance, but he had to be ready
just in case. If need be, he
’
d
stand and run toward the assholes and just start shooting. That would give
Gaige, Blaine, and Shay a heads up and then Back Down Devil could end this
battle before it became a goddamn war.

Jace slowly started to stand. He
spotted two men standing at the back of the fishing boat. Then he saw Mutty.
Next to him was another meathead of muscle. Jace smiled when he saw the guy's
crutches. He was lucky that Jace had shot him in the knee and not in his
fucking head.

Next time, motherfucker
…

The two guys in the boat wore
regular clothes. They looked like tourists with their sunglasses with string
attached to them around their necks.

One of the guys turned and opened a
compartment and pulled out a white box. After popping off the lid, he took out
a fish and wiggled it.

Mutty shook his head and yelled
something.

The other guy then reached into the
white box and pulled out a bag. The fucking drugs. The lid was put back on the
box and then handed to Mutty. He put one box on one large shoulder and then a
second one was presented to him. He took both and walked away.