Page 85 of Tico

“Chingada vida(Fuck my life),” I mutter and Weber nods.

“You can say that again.”

Someone calls his name and he tilts his head at me before walking away, Ember walks back over wearing a sheepish look that instantly has me on edge. But then her face changes, worry etching over her features.

“What’s wrong?”

I shake my head. “Just found out some information about Kane is all.” I don’t want to have to tell her if I don’t have to, and thankfully she drops it. “You ready to head out?” I ask her and she nods sheepishly.

“I have a favor to ask.”

“What is it, Vicious.”

“Is…Is there any way we can stop by our trailer on the way out of town? I’d like to grab the rest of our things if it’s possible. Well, provided Jerry hasn’t destroyed everything that is.”

I relax and nod. “Yeah, Vicious, that’s completely doable. Ricky can drive everything back in the SUV. I want you on the back of my bike.”

She smiles up at me and we turn, walking towards where we hid the bikes. As we walk, I catch Ember watching Lucian with a questioning look on her face, but she doesn’t interrupt him since he’s talking with Weber. I tilt my head at him. He knows where to find us when he’s ready to talk to both Ember and Pyper, though I think that talk will happen sooner rather than later. Especially with all the regret and guilt he harbors.

Twenty minutes later, I pull up to a worn-down trailer and my jaw clenches at seeing what Ember and Pyper were forced to live in. I’m not saying that living in trailers is bad, but this one barely looks like it’s standing—like a gust of wind could knock it down. Daemon, Taco, and Ricky pull in behind us. The rest of the club headed back home along with our captives. They’ll sit on ice until Ember and I get back.

Shutting off my bike, I hold my hand out to help Ember off and once again, that sheepish look is on her face, almost like she’s embarrassed.Chingar(Fuck), I hope she doesn’t thinkI’m going to judge her about this because there’s no fucking way I would.

Swinging my leg off the bike, I pull her close to me. “Let’s go get your things, Vicious.”

Ember exhales and turns back to the trailer as we walk up the steps.

“It’s kinda hard to believe, but it looks like it’s in worse condition than when we left.”

My jaw clenches again, but I say nothing. Stepping in front of Ember, I open the door, gun drawn just in case anyone from the Chrome Vipers or Oasis is squatting here. While Weber rounded up as many as they could today, we know they didn’t get everyone—some people from both groups fled during the shootout.

I walk through each room and then come to a halt when I reach the back room that Ember said had been hers.

Chingar(Fuck). I scrub a hand over my face. How am I going to tell her?

“He did it, didn’t he?” Ember calls out weakly from where she’s standing at the front door and when I walk back into the living room, her face falls at the look on my face.

“I’m not sure how much you’ll be able to salvage, Vicious.”

She swallows thickly and walks towards her bedroom. At the door, a strangled sound escapes her when she sees the state of their room.

Every single book has been ripped apart. Pictures are broken and the photos themselves are torn into pieces. The bed and bedding have been stabbed multiple times and shredded. The drawers have all been emptied and every article of clothing looks like a knife has been taken to them. Same for their shoes.

“He destroyed everything,” she whispers and my chest tightens at the pain in her voice.

“We can take pictures of the books to see if we can find new ones. As for the pictures, maybe take them just in case Wire’s able to come up with something to restore them,” Daemon tells her gently, and she nods, wiping the tears off her cheeks that none of us comment about.

“Y-Yeah, okay,” she replies quietly and we get to work sorting through everything.

It takes almost a half an hour, but everything Ember managed to salvage, including the torn pictures, fits into a small box. Rochelle’s box is a little bigger, but not by much. Like with Ember and Pyper, a lot of her stuff was destroyed as well. Though Ember was able to find the journals Rochelle had talked about.

Ember wipes tears off her cheek as she looks one more time at Pyper’s books. “She’s going to be so devastated,” she whispers and I pull her close to me as the others step out giving us some privacy.

“We’ll get her replacement books as soon as we’re able to. Hell, we can turn her entire room in my house into a library if she wants.”

Ember gives me a watery smile and then she pauses as my words sink in. “Wait, you have a house?”

Mierda(shit), did I not tell her that before?