Zane (Reapers MC Book 11) Read online

  “The MC doc, huh?” I joke.

  Cheyenne’s face falters, “No, that would be Sakura. I’m the back up, I guess. It’s a long story.”

  “Ah, okay.” I know when to catch a hint about being too nosey, so I bug off.

  “Hopefully they won’t try to give you shit anymore. They’ve never met Zane, and honestly, those girls’ only look to Sakura and Damon as their bosses. They don’t understand the club hierarchy or any of it.” Cheyenne states.

  Now this is interesting. She knows about how the inner workings of a club go down. “You’re part of a biker family too, aren’t you?” I question.

  Cheyenne lets out a short laugh, but it’s not funny to her. It reminds me more like an ‘oh shit’. Nodding, she answers. “Yeah, my brother’s in a club back home.”

  “I knew it. I—” The door to Kade’s trailer comes flying open, so hard in fact it hits the exterior wall. Zane is charging out. His face is blood red and I know this couldn’t have been good.

  “C’mon Octavia, we’re getting out of here!” He bellows, heading toward the rental car. I catch Grim running up to us in the background. With every passing moment I can tell Zane is growing more and more furious, so I hop in the passenger seat and shut the door.

  I don’t know what the fuck just happened, but do I wanna know?

  Chapter Fifteen

  A saint was asked “what is anger”. He gave a beautiful answer, “It’s punishment that we give ourselves, for someone else’s mistake.”

  ~ Unknown

  Zane

  In all of my years on this Earth, I have yet to be this furious. My brother. Actually, scratch that. My idiot brother decided to tell our sister what I just learned last night. While she’s pregnant. She passed out from the shock and fell, and now she’s at the hospital and we don’t know if the baby’s okay.

  Of course, Kade didn’t tell me that until now. I could fucking kill him.

  As soon as he told me what happened I got on the phone to call Blackjack and check in. Of course he didn’t answer, but I don’t blame him. If what Kade said is true, I wouldn’t be answerin’ my fuckin’ phone.

  I started to drive toward the airport with everyone when my phone started ringin’ obnoxiously. So, I pulled this shitty little car over and answered. “This is Zane,” I grumble out, not botherin’ to look and see who was callin’ in the first place.

  “Uncle Zane,” Dex called. Okay. He wouldn’t have called me if it was bad.

  “Hey kid, how’s Ash?” I question, heart pounding intensely in my chest as I await his answer.

  “She’s okay. The baby is okay too. The fall happened, then her water broke like ten minutes later. It was fucking disgusting, look like she pissed herself. Dad told me to call you and give you a heads up. Said something about Uncle Kade prolly telling you and you freaking out. He’s on the phone with him now, so he told me to call you.”

  “God, you have no idea how glad I am to hear they’re okay. How’s the lil’ man?”

  “Good, I guess. I dunno. He sure has a mouth on him. Makes me miss Noelle. She was quiet as a mouse when she was this little.”

  I can’t hold back my chortle at hearing that. “He’s your lil’ brother, Dex. You always watch out for him. You hear me?”

  “Yeah, yeah.” I can practically see him rollin’ his eyes.

  “You tell Ash I’ll come see her tonight when I get home.”

  “Alright. When are you flying out?” Dex asks.

  “‘Bout an hour.”

  “Oh, okay. You seen Chaz yet? He had surgery yesterday. I heard he’s been a little . . . agitated.” Dex is one smart cookie. One who knows how to be subtle as fuck.

  “I may end up gettin’ home late tonight. So, just tell Ash I’ll actually see her tomorrow. Alright?”

  “You got it. Safe travels. Love you.”

  “Love ya too, kid.” I end the call and throw my cell back on the dash.

  “Is everything okay?” Octavia asks, brows raised, obviously concerned. Shit, I didn’t even tell her what happened.

  “Yeah. Kade told my sister about . . . what he told me. She’s pregnant, she ended up takin’ a fall and her water broke.”

  “Oh my God!!”

  “She’s okay, and the baby is too. They’re both perfectly fine.” I tell her.

  “Shit, Kade should count his lucky stars. Blackjack would rip him a new asshole.” Grim mutters, and I nod in agreement.

  “Blackjack?” Octavia says his name. Ah, yeah, she doesn’t know everyone.

  “He’s my VP,” I state.

  “Interim, you haven’t made it official.” Grim speaks up.

  I turn back and look at him, narrowing my eyes in confusion ‘cause I could’ve sworn I did . . . but maybe he’s right. Maybe I didn’t and was meanin’ to. “Shit, we gotta vote on that soon.”

  “About damn time! Thought the poor man was gonna croak before you gave him the title.” Grim says, and I shoot a glare to him, “What? Too soon?”

  “Uh, yeah.” I roll my eyes, pull the vehicle out of park and drive down the interstate.

  Kade did end up tellin’ me which hospital Chaz is at. He’s about five miles away from the airport, so I decide we’ll miss our flight and get on a new one later. One of my guys needs some guidance right now, so I’ll be there for him. It’s the least I can do considerin’ I never even knew he was there until last night.

  We’re at the hospital in no time, walk inside and halt at the visitor’s station. I end up lyin’ to the nice lady behind the desk because she told me only family could come see him. Then another woman came up. The new one must’ve been like nineteen or twenty. She thought I was Kade and I ended up gettin’ up to see Chaz pretty damn quick. She didn’t even question how I didn’t know his room number. I told her I had so much on my mind and couldn’t remember it.

  He’s on the third floor, so we all go upstairs. Grim and Octavia wait in the waiting room while I head back to room 368. When I get there, I immediately see gauze wrapped around his hands. But, it’s not just gauze. There are so many rods stickin’ outta his hand I’m wonderin’ how a sledgehammer did that. The bandages go up to the middle of his forearm. At that point his skin is a combination of blue, purple and red. Most likely from bruising.

  I see a woman I haven’t met before sitting beside him. She seems concerned at first, but the moment her eyes land on my cut, she immediately calms. “The docs either gave me some hella good shit, or Zane’s here.” Chaz chuckles, soundin’ like a damn hyena like always.

  “He’s here,” The woman beside him states calmly, rising. “I believe this is the first time we’ve met. I’m Sakura,”

  “It’s nice to finally put the face to the name. I’ve heard amazing things about you.”

  “I wish I could say the same, but I haven’t heard much about you.” She admits honestly, which I appreciate.

  “That’s alright. Your Mouser’s girl, yeah?”

  Her expression shifts from stoic to brightly smiling, “Yes, I am.”

  “From what I hear he’s one of the good ones.”

  “He is. He loves this club more than anything.”

  “Good. That’s what I like to hear.” I tell her, moving my attention to Chaz. “How you holdin’ up man?”

  “Not doin’ bad. Just got cast as the new Cyborg.” He snickers.

  “Damn, crackin’ jokes already?” I chuckle.

  “You have no idea. He’s insufferable,” Sakura dramatically says.

  “He’s insufferable when he’s not on pain meds,” I poke fun at him, gettin’ a laugh out of both of ‘em. “Say, you need a break darlin’?”

  Sakura shifts on her feet, “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d love to go grab a green tea.”

  I wave my hand, already signaling she can go. “Do what you gotta do. It’ll give us some time to be alone.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate it.” Sakura rushes off and I look to Chaz, partially here because I wanna see how he’s doing . . . but that’s not t
he only reason.

  I wanna know what really happened that night. Most importantly, I wanna know if I’m bein’ lied to.

  The sooner I figure everythin’ out, the sooner we can find Amara. We’ve already wasted so much precious time.

  I just hope and pray the woman isn’t dead.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Ends are fleeting. Every sunset leads to a new beginning

  ~ Vic

  Octavia

  The last twenty something hours have flown by. Grim and I stayed at the hospital with Zane for a bit while he visited his hurt member, Chaz I believe. He had surgery the day before, so Zane wanted to go show him some support. After his visit was over with Zane took me to some strip mall sort of thing where I could get some new clothes.

  We ended up discovering my father or brother cancelled my debit card. I had them both on my account with me in case something did happen to me. Well, I don’t know how in the world they were able to do this. Actually, that’s a lie. They did it because they were on my account. They had the access.

  Their reasoning behind it is the only thing I don’t know. Was it my brother, or was it my father? Did they figure out someone was tapping into our bank accounts, tracking us that way? Is that how my sisters were all murdered? I have no idea. The questions are slowly killing me, running rapidly through my mind.

  We got in late yesterday, a little before midnight. Now I find myself in Zane’s childhood home. Photographs of his father and mother are all over the living room and the hallway that leads upstairs. One sticks out more so than the others. It must’ve been Halloween because they’re all dressed up in costumes. Fist appears to be a cowboy, while his wife is matching in theme, looking like a done-up cowgirl. I can’t tell which boy is Zane and which one’s Kade, but one is in a Darth Vader outfit while the other is Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. Meanwhile, the younger girl with golden curls down to her shoulders is in a bright blue dress with a tiara. I’ll go ahead and bet she was Cinderella.

  I woke up before Zane, surprisingly sleeping in the same bed with him. It’s a little past eight in the morning, and I’m standing on the wooden staircase, really taking a look at these photos. They start with the couple, and then shift down through the years. The last photo of them as a family, though. It guts me.

  Their mother has some sort of bandana type material wrapped around her head. Her cheekbones are sunken in and she’s sitting down. Though, even with her obvious state of suffering she smiles widely, holding onto her boys’ hands as they stand beside her. While her eyes beam up at her daughter.

  All it takes is one glance at this photo to know how much Mrs. Monroe loved her family, how her children were her entire world.

  “What’re you doin’?” Zane asks, causing me to jump. I end up going down a couple steps, crashing the right side of my body into the wall on the landing. “Shit!”

  Zane shuffles down from the top of the stairs to see if I’m alright. Sliding down to the floor, I crack up with laughter. “I’m fine. You should take up a job in the horror movie biz though. I think you’d be great at it.”

  “Yeah, I’ll get right on that smartass. C’mon,” Zane extends his hand and pulls me up, then we go down the stairwell through the living room and enter the kitchen.

  Zane opens the fridge, pulls out a carton of eggs, some milk, and orange juice. Next thing I know he’s pulling things from the cabinets like he’s a contestant on Top Chef.

  The front door opens and in comes a man who looks exhausted as can be. Bags are under his eyes and they even look a little blue. “I thought you’d be in your house, not here.” The guy grumbles. He has dark hair but it’s mostly a salt and pepper look. His facial hair is well defined and matches. As he approaches I see this is Blackjack from his name on his cut, he’s Ashley’s husband.

  “Congrats on your new bundle of joy,” I comment.

  The man smiles, “Thank you. I appreciate it. Welcome to the family.”

  “What’re you doin’ here?” Zane questions.

  “Ash told me to take a damn break and check on how things were here. With you bein’ gone she knew I should be on full alert and shit. Man, he picked the worst time to make his grand entrance into the world.” Blackjack states, rubbing his hand across his chin.

  “They usually do. I sure think he had some help,” Zane grumbles.

  “Speaking of that, the next time I see your dumb fuck of a brother I’m gonna knock his teeth out. We were lucky neither of them were hurt, so fuckin’ lucky.”

  “Hey, I about killed him. If it wasn’t for Ivy walkin’ in their back door I probably would’ve snapped his neck in two.” Zane confesses. He’s putting flour in a bowl, adds milk and two eggs.

  “Jesus, I get why he wanted to give her a heads up but he could’ve been smarter about it.” Blackjack says.

  Oh crap. I don’t think this is going to end well. “Why’s that?” Zane tries to keep his shitty tone undetectable, but I can tell he’s aggravated.

  “Look, you have a different relationship with Ash than Kade does. Kade and Ash connect on some weird emotional level, even I don’t get it and I’m fuckin’ married to her. But you and Ash . . . you’re a tad bit different. You two bicker and fight like dogs, but at the end of the day she’s the one who listens to whatever’s on your mind. My belief is Kade wanted to tell her a bit so she could fully process it before you came to her.”

  “He was still an idiot,” Zane replies, not denying anything Blackjack said.

  “Yup. Why aren’t you at your house?” His question confuses me. Isn’t this Zane’s house?

  Zane shrugs his shoulders after he pulls a skillet out of the cabinet. He pours some oil and the batter into the pan before he replies. “That might be my house, yeah, but this is my home. I know the plan was for that to be my home, but I can’t stay there. This is the place I connect with. When I got back last night, I told the guys to get outta the basement and rooms here and head over there. It’s big enough to house a few of ‘em.”

  Blackjack nods like he understands, “Yeah, I could see that. You were raised here after all.”

  “Mhm. The foreman I chatted with the other day told me they’re getting behind schedule again. At this rate . . . shit, if we don’t get a big snow like we typically do in November. But if we get snowfall, it’ll throw the schedule off soon. They won’t be able to get their equipment down here.”

  “Equipment?” Blackjack questions, drawing his brows together.

  “Yeah, I’m having them add a couple other buildings on the property.” Zane explains.

  “What? You never said that to anyone or put it up for a vote.”

  Zane sighs, “‘Cause sometimes we just have to act on shit. The overall goal is for the club to expand, right?”

  “Damn straight,” Blackjack confirms.

  “Yeah, then we’ll outgrow the shit we have quickly. They’ll add another mini-version of a clubhouse with its own bar, kitchen, and living area. It’ll have about eight rooms too. Then I’m addin’ a place for some clubwhores. The good news is the clubhouse is almost done. In the meantime, we’ll let the girls stay in my house.”

  “What about the other house?” Blackjack inquires. He’s talkin’ about the house that was supposed to be Kade’s.

  “If we have visitors from Vegas, or one of our allies make a trip up here. We’ll just use that. Sound good?”

  “Yep, but you know the brothers are gonna give you some shit, goin’ rogue and all that.” Blackjack says.

  “I can handle it. Syd been okay since I’ve been gone?” Who is Syd?

  “Yeah. Misses you like hell, though. She’s been a great help with Noelle. Keeps the girl outta trouble.”

  Zane smiles widely at that, flipping the batter over in the pan and I realize he’s making us breakfast. Pancakes from the looks of it. “We’re fine here, brother. Go back to Ash. Lemme know when it’s good to come up and see the kiddo.”

  “Will do. See ya later,” Blackjack says to Zane, but he walks
closer and wraps his arms around me. “Welcome to the family, Octavia. We might be a bit much at times, but we stick together. We got your back, no matter what.” Blackjack pulls away, giving me a half smile.

  I don’t know why, but I feel warmth swell in my chest. Somehow, for some reason, I believe every word he’s just said. I do feel safe here, and most of all, I feel accepted. Now I’m just wondering who this Syd character is. My anxiety is saying Syd could be a clubwhore he prefers up here . . . and Zane never told me he was like that.

  By that, I mean just like my father.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Let it hurt. Then let it go

  ~ R.H. Sin

  Zane

  Silence. It feels like it’s wrapping around our bodies, swarming around us. But why is it so quiet? I don’t know but I’m about to find out. “Somethin’ wrong?” Octavia’s in the middle of chowing down on some homemade pancakes.

  I cock a brow, showin’ her I’m serious. She finishes chewing, takes a sip of the fresh coffee I just finished brewing and clears her throat. “I’m just curious why you didn’t tell me about your clubwhore,” She grits out, grinding her teeth while glaring at me.

  “What clubwhore? We don’t have any at the club.” I state, tellin’ her the truth. We had a couple clubwhores, but Saffron was killed. Blossom got her ass kicked to the curb for bein’ a disrespectful piece of shit and Shiloh said she didn’t want to do it anymore. Axel, Grim and Zorro had rotated between her for a while, but now she wants a real relationship. Can’t say I blame her ‘cause at the end of the day everyone deserves to be happy, even her.

  Octavia laughs, but she doesn’t think my response is funny. Nah, it’s the type that makes you feel like they’re onto whatever game you’re playin’. “Syd? It’s obvious she’s your woman. It’s fuckin’ obvious, Zane. I thought we were moving into this without lies, and you didn’t tell me about her? Seriously?” Octavia’s cheeks flush with a blush pink. Looks like the girl is gettin’ worked up.