JACK
`I spend the morning with Bam and Loki at the drying warehouse. The harvest is well underway, and more than twenty-eight thousand plants have already been picked and lie drying in the massive barn we had specially built twenty miles out of town.
We employ a lot of the farmers and their families, as well as some of the poorer families nearby to help cut and dry the plants. We pay them cash, and we pay them well, which ensures their loyalty as well as their silence.
As I’m leaving and walking to my bike, my phone rings. It’s a number I don’t recognize, but I answer, “Yeah.”
There’s a pause.
“Finally, I get to speak to the man himself,” comes the unfamiliar voice on the other end.
“Who is this?” My gut tightens because I already know the answer.
“You know who this is.”
Ghost.
“You’ve got some balls ringing me,” I growl as the grip on my phone tightens.
He chuckles.
The motherfucker actually has the motherfucking nerve to chuckle.
“You know, you sound a lot more eloquent than I thought you would. Not nearly the hillbilly I was expecting.”
I don’t say anything.
Just focus on not gripping my cell too tight I break it.
“How you doin’, Jack?”
“What the fuck do you want?”
“I want you to stop killing my friends.”
“You don’t have any friends.” My teeth are so tightly clenched I think they might shatter.
“Not now that you’ve killed them all,” Ghost replies.
Ghost obviously knows about TomTom.
“Some of them are in prison,” I say.
“Where you put them with the help of Pinkwater.”
“Feel free to visit them any time you like.”
“And have you waiting for me when I leave? I don’t think so. I know you have spies everywhere in that place.”
“Afraid to face me, man to man?” I ask.
“It’s not a case of being afraid, Jack. It’s a self-preservation thing. If I want to stay on the right side of the grass, I don’t think meeting you man to man is a very good idea.”
“Why not come after me then? Kill me like I plan on killing you.”
He lets out a heavy breath. “Because I’m tired of this bullshit. And killing you would only bring six fucking chapters of the Kings of Mayhem down on my head.”
“Then what the fuck are you ringing me for?”
“I want this to be done.”
“It will never be done.”
“Oh, I think it will. See, this game of yours, it works both ways.” He pauses, and I can feel the evil seeping through the phone line. “I can cause the same havoc on you that you’ve caused me.”
“I haven’t even started with you.”
“And you won’t.” Again, he pauses and then his voice gets really close, like he’s in the next room. “See, I’ve seen the pretty little thing you’ve got hanging around with you. Know she’s been keeping your bed warm while you’ve been keeping her safe.”
I grit my teeth. His mentioning Bronte makes me want to kill him even more. It also makes me wonder how the fuck he knows about her. Either there is a rat in my inner sanctum, or the fucker has been watching us. It has to be the latter because I trust every one of my club brothers.
“How about you speak like that about her again, and I’ll take extra time killing you when I find you.”
I want to kill him just for talking about her.
“No, you won’t.” His tone is dark. “Because if you don’t stop coming for me, I’ll come for her. You got that? I’ll come for that sweet little thing that wears those cute little flowers in her hair. Your sweet little honey pot with the big eyes and that juicy body. Mmm… and those big lips. Boy, she makes me hard just talking about her. You can be sure I’ll fuck that hot little mouth of hers before I take her.”
Rage like I’ve never known washes over me, and the venom in my veins reaches boiling point. “You go near her…” I falter because the idea is torture. “You go near her, and I swear to God I will—”
“You’ll what? You haven’t been able to find me in five years, Jack. But I’ve found you. Been watching you and your little flower child.”
My blood buzzes with fury. The idea of Ghost putting his hands on Bronte fills me with fire. Hell, him being in the same vicinity is bad enough, lLet alone him touching her.
“Because I don’t hide like you do, you piece of shit. You’re like a fucking frightened little field mouse. Man up and meet me face to face.”
He tsks. “Listen to me, Jackie boy. You can’t save your brother, but this is your chance to save your girl. It’s your choice. End this now, or I will come after her, and I promise you, she won’t meet the reaper as quickly as your brother did.”