see Gabel flying into the parking lot. It took him a few seconds to see me, but when he did, he slammed the brakes and came to screeching stop. He hurried from his ride, dropping his helmet on the ground. “ Talon? ” he called out. “ Get over here, ” I ordered. “ On your knees. ” Gabel approached. He looked and saw Tommy on the ground, dead. That ’ s when he dropped to his knees. “ What did you do? ” he asked. “ You were buying drugs from him? ” I asked. “ You piece of shit. ” “ No …” “ Hey, Talon! ” Layne yelled. I looked back at Layne ’ s face which was white and angry. I looked down at Gabel. A surge of fear went through my body. Gabel was shaking, weeping. “ No … Talon … no …” “ What the fuck is this? ” I asked. I put the gun to Gabel ’ s head. My own brother in this MC. A man I trusted and loved. That ’ s what had happened to us now. Everything and everyone broken. “ They were pills, ” Gabel whispered. “ To help me. ” “ Help you? With what? ” Gabel looked at me. “ To help me … fuck. ” “ What? ” Layne stepped up beside me and slammed a large bag against my chest. I tucked my gun away and looked. It was a bag full of what looked like stolen pill bottles. “ He was selling scripts, ” Layne said. “ These are dick pills, man. ” “ What do you mean dick pills? ” I asked. “ To make you harder. To make you bigger. To make you last longer. ” I looked down at Gabel. “ Are you fucking kidding me? ” “ I was having problems, ” he said. “ Tommy knows people. He could get me anything like that … you know him. ” I looked back at Tommy. I looked at Gabel on his knees. Then I looked at Layne. Layne shook his head. “ Way to go, President. But that ’ s just you, right Talon? You act before you fucking think. Good luck cleaning up this mess. ” Layne grabbed Gabel by his leather and stood him up. “ Come on, Gabel. Let ’ s get out of here before he fucking kills us for no good reason. ” I stood, cold and empty, and watched Layne and Gabel leave. Prison hardened my soul, my emotions. It left me hungry to get to my club. And my club was broken. Then again, I had just gotten done telling Layne that it wasn ’ t my club. That it was our club. I looked at Everly and felt another surge of anger. I couldn ’ t help but see the way she looked at Layne ride away. What else was I sharing with Layne?
12.
(Everly)
Everything had happened so fast. One second I was on the back of Talon ’ s motorcycle and the next second there was a man shot to death and it looked as though Devil Call MC was breaking apart for good. I watched Layne leave the parking lot and my heart ached for him. Whatever he had just said to Talon meant more than what I knew. Something had happened between Layne and Talon. Something that went back further than Talon being in prison. When I looked at Talon, his eyes were wide. “ Talon …” He walked to the dead body on the ground. “ He was a piece of shit. He deserved to die. ” Talon then walked to the trunk of the car. I followed him and saw that the trunk was filled with all kinds of random junk. Most of it all sex related. There were boxes of condoms. Weird looking toys. Lots of pills that were labeled for different purposes. This was what this guy - Tommy - had been doing. Just peddling crap like this to make ends meet. And Gabel had been buying pills to help him perform. To make him feel like a man. And I had told Talon otherwise … I was responsible for this … I took a step back and Talon lunged at me. “ What are you doing? ” he asked. “ I shouldn ’ t have said a thing, ” I said. “ I made it seem like a drug deal. Like I knew what I saw. ” “ Stop it. ” “ Layne was …” “ Don ’ t fucking say a thing, ” Talon ordered. He started to shake me. I couldn ’ t look away from the dead body. It was as much my fault as Talon ’