I did that. I brought her to that point. Association with me and my club led her down that destructive and harmful path. She was a shell of herself and I had to live with the fact it was my fault. How did I bring her back from the edge? How did I convince her that we still belonged together when she couldn’t look me in the eye?
How did I say I love you when I couldn’t look into her eyes without guilt?
Maybe I was just destined for a certain life. Maybe fate had intervened, and I was set on a collision course that couldn’t be stopped until I ended up dead. Was it my destiny to end up alone? To die at the hands of my enemies?
Perhaps that was why I never had any hesitation or trouble accepting that contract the devil presented. It just felt right. My Reaper embraced my thirst for vengeance and from that moment on, we were one.
I’d go to any lengths to get retribution after what Scar, Acid, and Razr did to me, Keys, Lockjaw, and my club. When the Scorpions went after Suraya and Trish, they cultivated my hatred and need for total and complete annihilation. If it meant my soul would suffer eternal hell and damnation, I could accept it. After all, I was commissioned by the devil to reap his chosen souls and I’d give him a few more just to seal the deal.
Standing face to face with that calculating and greedy bastard out in the desert was the scariest thing I’d ever done in my life. Once he presented that contract, there had been no turning back. Anyone who’s ever looked death in the eye will understand how deeply he can see into your soul. He always enticed you with the one thing you desired above all. His presentation minutes before I died was too good to refuse.
I grew to love the vicious Reaper that intertwined with my soul. We were one thought and entity. There was a hunter’s drive in his monstrous thirst for vengeance. A predator’s stealth and sick enjoyment. I wanted blood and so did my Reaper.
We needed to win Trish back and the only way to do so was to kill and end the threat against her. Acid had gone underground. For six months, I searched and staked out all his compounds. He hid until the moment he was ready to surface.
In the meantime, I couldn’t find Trish. She was gone. I wasn’t sure where she went but I hadn’t had eyes on her in days. Something in my gut prompted me to locate her. If nothing else, for peace of mind.
I dialed Bodie’s number, knowing he was probably in bed, but I didn’t give a fuck. I missed my brother. He’d been gone too long. Never came back home more than a couple of times since Suraya was killed.
“What?” he snarled, grumpy as fuck at being awakened before noon.
“Hey,” I replied with a chuckle. “Catch you at a bad time?”
“Nah,” he grumbled. “What the fuck you want so early in the damn morning?”
“It’s almost noon, you lazy fucker. Need a favor and you’re just the guy to do it.”
“I’m listening.”
“You remember Tricia?”
“Your ol’ lady? Or the one who used to be?”
I cussed a few choices words and scowled, picking up a chair in my office and throwing it against the wall in frustration. “Yeah, that’s the one.”
“What about her?”
“She’s missing.”
“Wanna tell me how you know that?”
Like it wasn’t obvious. “I know everything that happens with Trish.”
“What do you want me to do? Check out the Blacktop?”
“Yeah. I need to know if she’s been there recently. Let me know what you find.”
“Will do, pres.”
Cold brisk air blew in a sudden gust around my office and I closed the window, ending the call with Bodie. I was restless and didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t control all the shit that kept trickling around my life lately.
Bodie showed up later that night and brought in none other than Suraya’s fuckin’ ghost. Every brother in the club was in an uproar. I had to separate them all until I heard from Bodie. Scorpions MC had shown up at the Blacktop and nearly taken him out. Something big was happening. I sent Bodie back to find out as much as he could from the lookalike. The expression on his face was obvious that he was spooked.
Who wouldn’t be? He lost the woman he loved and then she shows up and shocks the hell out of him.
I was waiting in the chapel when he knocked and then strolled in, shutting the door.
“You’re never gonna believe this shit. Suraya had an identical twin. Her name is Sasha.”