Page 11 of Ruthless Redemption

Movement from the pack in front of him caught his eye. JD was signaling for them to exit. They were close to the Idaho/Nevada border and would have to stop for the night before they could make the last leg of the trip.

As they slowed, Izzy leaned forward and said, “I need a restroom break.”

He nodded. They were all in need of a break. He also had plans to get drunk until he passed out. His brain needed a fucking break.

A thorough look at a map also seemed like a good idea. It had been a while since he’d made this trip and he wanted to get a feel for any alternate routes they might need.

He parked and Izzy scrambled off the back, making a beeline for the women’s room without even removing her helmet. The weird little dance she did as she pulled the door open made him laugh. Guess she’d needed to stop for a while.

“She okay?” JD had pulled up next to him.

“Yeah. Has to pee pretty bad, I guess.”

His president nodded and he leaned a little back to watch him ease from his bike and head for the men’s room himself.

It surprised him how much everyone changed in his decade away. JD had to be in his early fifties now and yet even with the silver edging his hair, he looked more like forty. He was still as big as ever and he suspected that his strength hadn’t diminished at all. He could and would deliver a beat down to whoever needed it.

“So what are you thinking about all this?” Axel had come up behind him and stopped next to his bike.

“I’m thinking we’re heading into a viper’s nest unarmed and uninformed. Are we on some sort of suicide mission?”

Axel laughed. “You would think so, if you actually believed any of that were true. We both know better than that. This entire route is Wrath country. You can bet JD has it covered.”

Wait. So far they’d passed through Oregon and now Idaho.

“The club has a chapter in Oregon and Idaho now?”

Axel tilted his head to the other side of the wide parking lot. “What do you think?”

He followed Axel’s line of sight and discovered a row of bikes and a pick-up idling on the other side of the truck stop building. “How long?”

His friend shrugged. “Almost five years now. It makes doing business between here and Vegas a hell of a lot easier to have us covered. Also got a chapter coming up in California soon.”

“Wow. I had no idea. Guess that’s why we are making this trip on our bikes instead of a quick flight.”

Axel tipped his head. “JD has been one hell of a president these past years. I mean it wasn’t easy what he had to do. Getting the club mostly clear and all. But he was determined and something in him got solid about doing what was right. So while I know that Izzy needs her vengeance, you gotta remember that it ain’t the most important thing. Finding this missing girl is.”

He understood that, but he also knew this was as close as they were ever going to get. They had one chance to take Frank Mazzeo by surprise. “I don’t think either objective is mutually exclusive. We can make them both work.”

Axel clapped him on the back and he didn’t know whether to grit his teeth or keep talking.

“Just making sure you’re clear on the objective here. We were hired to find a missing college girl. Not assassinate a mob boss. I’m pretty sure you get my drift.”

He nodded as JD returned to his bike. Axel exchanged some words with their president he couldn’t hear before he disappeared into the head. He definitely understood that it washismission to kill. It wasn’t the first and he suspected it also wasn’t the last.

“Is he always a pain in the ass like this?”

JD’s mouth quirked into a partial smile. “Who Axel? Yeah. Although I remember when you both were complete pains in my ass and so far as I’ve seen that hasn’t changed. But no matter what, I know Axel has the good of the club at the core of everything he does. I couldn’t have asked for a more loyal Vice President.”

That sounded suspiciously like JD had just told him that he wasn’t loyal to the club. Or at least not as much as his ex best friend. Because they all needed a dose of reality right now. He and Axel hadn’t been best friends for a long damn time.

“You planning on holding my joining the Marines against me forever? Because if so, I might as well give you this cut now. I don’t need it to help you with this mission.”

JD’s face went hard, his expression now closed. “Don’t fuck with me today, Houston. We may be a little bitter about you being gone so long, but that’s because we missed you. But what you did over there, fighting in those un-winnable wars? That was some damn fine shit. I’m proud of what you became and I think you got the shit end of the stick they discharged you like they did. As far as I can see that knee isn’t much of a hindrance and who the fuck needs a knee to lay in the grass and shoot people a mile away anyways?”

He laughed. That wasn’t the first time those thoughts entered his mind. God, he’d been so fucking bitter when his commander delivered the news. He could ride a desk for the rest of his career or take a medical fucking discharge. He wished the sting of it was completely gone, but it wasn’t. However, he’d thought about it less and less since his return.

Getting involved with Izzy and then the club. It had filled a hole he only thought fillable with alcohol.