He watched as Saint tensed. It was the first real sign of emotion from the other man, which he found interesting.
Saint was an enigma. He was a hard nut to crack, and there was no way to read him, but for the first time ever, Knife was convinced there was a lot of pain inside the other man, which he kept buried.
“I’ll handle Ralf.”
“You do that.”
****
Saint knocked on Ralf’s apartment door. He’d left the warehouse and come straight here. The way Knife had spoken, he knew the other man was concerned, not for his own safety but for that of Sarah.
Over the past couple of weeks Ralf had been withdrawing from the club, and whenever he put an appearance the man wasn’t there. Out of the whole club, Ralf had been the most unstable. When he got the job as a deputy it had seemed to put him right, as had Sarah. Now, something was going wrong, and Saint didn’t like it.
Ralf opened the door, and Saint just knew he’d been the one spying on Knife. The stench coming from him turned Saint’s stomach, and entering the apartment, he growled. There were several images of Sarah, then some of Knife and Sarah.
“What the fuck?” Saint said.
“She belongs to me.”
The sight of Ralf was the worst. He looked like he hadn’t taken a shower in weeks, or shaved, but what really made Saint nervous was the crazy look in his eyes.
“Sarah moved on, Ralf.”
“No, she hasn’t. She’s mine.”
Saint shook his head. “No, she’s not, Ralf.”
“Look at her.” Ralf grabbed a picture. It was one taken as she entered Dirty Deeds. Saint gritted his teeth to stop himself from speaking out. He wanted to know the extent of Ralf’s mind. “She doesn’t want to be with him. He’s plagued her mind. She’s mine, Saint. She always has been.” Saint moved around the apartment that had seen much better days. Pulling out his cell phone, he took pictures of the chaos that surrounded him.
“The club is changing you, and you don’t even see it.”
“Saint, this man you’re becoming, he’s dangerous. I don’t trust you anymore. You don’t even see what you’re doing is wrong. I’ve got to go before you hurt me as well.”
This was one of the decisions he had to make.
“All of the Hell’s Wolves are trying to take what belongs to us, Saint. If we don’t act now, they’re going to overrun the club. First Elena, now Sarah, we’ve got to stop them.”
“Stop them how?” Saint asked.
“Kill them, every last one of them. I believe we can get it so they’re at one of their fights. We blow the fucking place up.”
“You’ve lost your mind, Ralf.”
“I’m going to do it. If you can’t see what needs to be done, then I’m going to fucking deal with it.”
Saint watched as he reached for a gun, and he moved forward, gripping his arm. “Okay, fine, that’s what we’re going to do. We’ll take care of the Wolves. I should have listened.”
Ralf nodded, and Saint hugged the man. Raising his arms up, he placed his arm across Ralf’s neck, and closing his eyes, he counted to ten.
“We’ve got to take care of them.”
“Yes, we’ve got to take care of them.”
“How long has it been since you’ve felt for the person you’ve killed, Saint?”
“You’re gone, aren’t you?”
Tightening his hold, Saint squeezed on Ralf’s neck at the same time he covered the man’s mouth, stopping him from breathing.