Chapter 17
KODE
“I hate Maverick,” I tell Dane over the phone as I leave Silk. I had Eleanor meet me with all of Edward’s files instead of going to her house where people might see me and ask questions. I don’t want Rain or Dane knowing what I’m doing, because then they’d want to know why.
Rain wouldn’t mind so much, but Dane would assume I was stepping on his toes and trying to get Rain’s attention. Since Dane needed me to meet his alcohol supplier while he was in a meeting, I decided just to have Eleanor meet me here.
“I hate him, too,” Dane groans.
Eleanor pulls out of the parking lot as I finish arranging the last of the boxes in the trunk. Just as I shut the lid, the face of the son of the bitch I hate the most is staring at me.
Pete Fucking Mercer.
His smug grin turns up as he leans up against the wall of the club, standing in the alleyway between Silk and a storage building, the same spot where I beat his ass a few months ago.
I don’t hesitate to stalk toward him, ready to end this fucking game.
“Dane, call the cops. Pete Mercer is at Silk.”
“Shit, Kode. Don’t do anything—”
I hang up on him to stay focused on what matters, and slip my phone into my pocket. Pete backs up farther, his smirk etching up. If I wasn’t in a blind rage and zeroed in on destroying his face, I might have stopped to pay better attention to the fact that we’re now deep into the pit of the alley, almost to the beach gate that connects to the two buildings.
“You’re not the Sterling I expected to find, but you’re sure as hell the one I’d rather have.”
His sinister tone doesn’t intimidate me, but the thudding of feet behind me puts me on alert. I turn around to see four guys who look like they love steroids a little too much.
“Oh, look. Turns out you’re not the only one with friends.”
Ah, hell. I shouldn’t have been stupid enough to get this deep. I turn back around just in time to get sucker punched by Pete, but I barely flinch before sending a punch of my own.
Arms try to wrap around me, but I’m swinging and connecting rapidly, my brutal training sessions with Jax finally paying off. One hit connects solidly with a face and breaks a nose, and then I turn and land another one across a jaw that has teeth crunching.
But five on one turns out to be shitty odds, and this time when arms wrap around me, they manage to hold me back as a bloody-mouth Pete steps forward with fury blazing in his eyes.
“Rich, pampered pricks like you shouldn’t fuck with guys like me, Sterling.”
A hard punch connects with my gut, the blow powerful enough to send my body in a reflexive curl, but the strong bastards holding me just lift me back up. Pete’s face isn’t as fucked up as I was hoping it would be, but I still manage to laugh.
“This rich, pampered prick kicked your ass all by himself. I didn’t need a bunch of gorillas holding you back to do it. I merely had an audience.”
Pete scowls and pulls his fist back. I stare, waiting without blinking, ready to take the hit without giving him the satisfaction of seeing me flinch.
“Hands in the air! Hands in the air!” foreign voices yell. I figured they’d react quickly after getting a call from Dane Sterling.
I smile as curses are spewed, and Pete tries to run through the back gate. Unfortunately for him, there are two cops with guns drawn on the other side of that gate, their commanding voices threatening him as he slowly raises his hands in defeat.
“You, too! H
ands in the air!” a cop yells at me, and I comply, smiling the whole damn time.
“My name is Kode Sterling. This is my brother’s club. I was jumped while trying to leave, and I want to press charges.”
“You motherfucker!” Pete roars. “This asshole jumped me months ago! If he’s pressing charges, then so am I!”
He can say that all he wants. Pete’s face has healed up nicely during these months, and Dane shredded the footage of that night long ago to cover our asses.
I frown when I see my phone has been trampled on the ground. That’ll have to go on my never-ending list of things to do—buy a new damn phone. Then I’ll have to wait on them to finish swapping all my info—