Fox by Harley Wylde
Chapter Thirteen
Raven
I looked around the house and noticed they’d brought Fox’s furniture over while we’d been gone. Everything had been packed and moved, including the dishes and the food he’d had in the fridge. One of the downstairs rooms held the guest room furniture, and I saw my dad had put his bag in there. How had they gotten all this done so fast?
“What do we do with all this when the new furniture arrives?” I asked Fox.
“We can have them move it back to the other house or store it somewhere in case anyone needs it. Why don’t you visit with your dad while I check out the security system they’ve installed?”
I nodded and went to find my dad. It felt odd, realizing I had a father, and that he actually wanted me. Why had my mom lied all my life? Not just to me, but to him too? Had she hated him that much? Or maybe she’d hated both of us. The way she’d turned her back on me, I’d often wondered if it had given her the perfect excuse to get rid of me.
“Dad?”
He turned, a smile on his face and his eyebrows lifted. “I can get used to hearing that.”
“Fox said he needed to check out whatever security the club installed. He suggested I spend time with you while he’s busy with that.”
“Let’s go see if they set up the TV right. We can pick a movie and talk,” he said.
I led the way to the living room and found the remote on the coffee table. I handed it to Hatchet and let him pick something. He flipped through the options and settled on Halloween. I eyed him.
“You like horror movies?” I asked.
“Mostly eighties slasher flicks. Although I can admit I like the Scream franchise too. Why?”
Smiling I leaned into him, putting my head on his shoulder. That was the moment I fully accepted him as my dad. Mostly because no one else in my family liked these movies except me. At least, that’s what my mother had said. It had only been the two of us, and whatever boyfriends she’d had along the way.
“They’re my favorite,” I said. “Mom always wrinkled her nose and told me the movies were low-class and I shouldn’t watch them. But I’m addicted to horror movies and shows.”
Hatchet put his arm around me, and we settled in to enjoy the movie. Fox found us a short time later. I patted the couch next to me and he sank onto the cushion. My dad relinquished me to him, but I noticed he didn’t get up.
“We have cameras that cover every inch of the outside,” Fox said. “They installed an alarm system too, and it has a panic button that sends a silent alarm to the other officers and Surge. In addition to that, we’ll have at least three brothers outside throughout the day. Everyone is going to watch the house in shifts.”
“Until we catch those fuckers,” Hatchet muttered.
“Right. And they’re close. All three. Surge found them by searching camera feeds around town. When Simmons stood across from the restaurant earlier, the other two were nearby but out of sight. I have a feeling they’ll strike together. The smoke bombs they tossed over the fence earlier were most likely a test, to see how we’d react and maybe get an idea of how many men are here.”
“Smart, but are they smarter than us?” Hatchet asked.
“Let’s hope not. Surge is digging into their backgrounds. So far, there’s no military connections that he can find. Doesn’t mean they don’t have some other sort of training. I’m hoping we’ll have a full workup on all of them before nightfall. They won’t strike in the middle of the day. Not after the stunt earlier,” Fox said.
“I just want it to be over,” I said.
“We’re going to handle these men, Raven, and then we’re going after Balmoral. Their negligence allowed you to be raped right under their noses, every damn night. I won’t stand for it,” Hatchet said. “They’ll pay.”
“I’ll have to show both of you how to use the system. It can wait for a bit. I may have some popcorn in the kitchen. Anyone want a snack while we watch the movie?” Fox asked.
“You’re going to watch it with us?” I asked.
Fox smiled. “Of course. Horror movies are my second favorite.”
“What’s your first?” I asked.
“Action flicks where they blow shit up.” He shrugged. “I’m a typical guy.”
Hatchet snickered next to me. When Fox left the room, my dad nudged my shoulder. “He’s all right. Long as he protects you, and doesn’t break your heart, I can live with the two of you being together. Even if it means you don’t live as close as I’d like. I’d hoped to take you home with me.”
“You can’t kidnap my woman,” Fox yelled out from the kitchen.
Hatchet lowered his voice. “Is that why they call him Fox? Because of his super hearing?”
“I heard that too,” Fox shouted. “And it’s because I’m such a fox.”
My dad snorted, then started choking and laughing at the same time. I smacked him on the back and glanced toward the kitchen, not sure if Fox was being serious or just trying to get a rise out of us. I’d noticed he could be playful at times, like scraping up all the cherry filling on his pie plate at the diner.
“You lying little shit,” a voice bellowed from the back of the house. I craned my neck, not realizing anyone else was here.
Fox appeared with a bowl of popcorn and three sodas. He set everything on the table just as Spider strolled into the room. I didn’t know if he had a key to all the homes here, or if Fox had left the door unlocked. Either way, the President entered the place like he owned it.
“Spider,” Hatchet said, with a nod of his head. “Thanks for letting me come for a visit.”
“Like I’m going to keep you away from your kid?” Spider leaned against the doorframe. “As for this fucker, he didn’t get his name because he’s a fox, as he put it.”
“Pres.” Fox’s tone had a warning to it, and his cheeks had flushed a bit.
Now I really wanted to know why they called him Fox. I eyed my man and the President of the Hades Abyss. It was clear the two were close.
“Used to spend as much time with Fox as I could when he was younger, seeing as how his parents were gone. His dad was my best friend,” Spider said. “Kid was a runt until he hit puberty, then he sprouted up and bulked up overnight. Before that, he was small and smelly.”
“Hey!” Fox flopped onto the couch. “That was harsh.”
Spider grinned. “And true! You were always into everything, and had this musk, like a fox. You ever smelled those things close up? They reek. So I started calling him a little fox. It stuck. When he patched in with the club, I knew exactly what we’d call him. I just never shared why with the others.”
“Thank fuck,” Fox muttered.
“Think most boys smell,” Hatchet said. “It’s why we have to work so hard to win over the girls after puberty. They still remember us as those smelly kids who ate too much and put bugs down their dresses.”
I eyed my dad. “So how did you get the name Hatchet?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Probably not something you want to hear.”
“I know why they call him that,” Spider said, the humor fading from his eyes. “And he’s right. You may not want to know, but I think you should.”
I looked between the two men. “I’m so confused right now.”
“When I deal with bad people, I’m not afraid of getting my hands dirty,” Hatchet said. “I’ve been known to cut them up… with a hatchet. I’m not like the monsters in these horror movies. I don’t kill innocent people, but men like the ones who hurt you. I’m all about making them pay for their sins and making them beg for mercy.”
I swallowed hard, trying to picture my dad as such a brutal person. When his gaze clashed with mine, I saw the sorrow and pain there, but also a steely determination. I knew he hadn’t regretted whatever he’d done in his past.
“For the record,” he said, “they don’t get any. I have no mercy for men who prey on the weak.”
I nodded. “Good.”
He gave me a slight smile and knocked his shoulder into mine again. “Glad you aren’t freaked out and running from me. It would have sucked to meet my daughter for the first time and have her be so terrified of me she ran away.”
“Not running,” I said. I leaned into Fox. “I’ve been told I’m strong. I don’t feel it most days, but I’m trying.”
“You probably have a few hours until the guards will make a move. They’re most likely planning things out right now. Hopefully, Surge will have more info on them before then. I told him to call in whoever else he needs. I know Shield has been in contact with him,” Spider said.
“Do you think it will be over after tonight?” I asked. “Or will I always feel like I need to look over my shoulder?”
“We’ll finish it before the sun comes up,” Spider said. “Luciana, Violeta, Vasha, and the kids will be at my house until this is over. I’ll be staying with them, and so will Rocket. Everyone else will be focused on keeping you safe, Raven.”
“I shouldn’t have sent the others home,” Hatchet said. “If I’d known she was in danger, I’d have brought backup with me.”
Spider smirked and walked to the front door, yanking it open. I heard the heavy tread of boots, then three men entered the house. Men I’d never seen before. Hatchet stood and swore.
“What the hell are you three doing here?” he asked.
“You really think we’d leave you to face all this alone?” one of them asked.
“Raven, this is Copper. The other two are Nitro and Snake.” Hatchet pointed to each so I’d know who was who. I huddled a little closer to Fox. My dad might trust these men, but they were strangers.
“Raven still isn’t used to men she doesn’t know,” Fox said, putting his arm around me.
“Not a problem,” Snake said. “Thought I’d go help Surge out until closer to dark.”
Copper snorted and elbowed him. “Yeah, I’m sure you’d love to help him.”
The men all laughed, and Snake snarled at them before stomping out of the house. I had no idea what was going on. Why did they make fun of the man for wanting to give Surge a hand with whatever he was doing?
Copper must have noticed my confusion. He gave me a smile. “No worries, Raven. We’re just yanking his chain. Everyone knows he thinks Surge is smart and sexy, a combination Snake can’t resist. He’s bisexual, so the help he’s going to offer Surge is more in the --”
He got cut off when Hatchet knocked the wind out of him. “Enough. She doesn’t need to hear all that.”
“So they’re both bisexual? Or is Surge gay?” I asked.
“They both like men and women equally,” Fox said. “Slider is bisexual too. He’s with Vasha. Seems she was his one, so they’re committed to one another.”
I scanned the men in the room. I remembered watching some show about bikers a few years ago, until my mom discovered what I’d been watching. It made me realize she must have kept tabs on my dad, otherwise, how would she have known he’d joined a motorcycle club? The men in the show hadn’t taken too kindly to men who weren’t straight. For that matter, they hadn’t seemed to care too much for men who weren’t white.
“It doesn’t bother any of you?” I asked. “That they like men?”
“There are clubs out there who would have a big issue with it,” Spider said. “Some who also wouldn’t like mixed race members in their club, or anyone who wasn’t the same race as them. We’re not like that, and neither are the clubs we consider our allies. We try to stay open-minded. The color of someone’s skin, and who they decide to love, doesn’t make them any less capable of having our backs. A few might be uncomfortable with the fact a brother likes other men, but at the end of the day, we support one another.”
“The Reckless Kings, the club I belong to, is the same way,” Hatchet said. “The Devil’s Fury, down in Georgia, has two brothers who are together, but they claimed a woman and her kid. They make it work. The Devil’s Boneyard, in Florida, has a VP whose old lady is mixed race. And several clubs we know have brothers who are either not fully white or are another race altogether. Like Spider said, none of that means shit. It doesn’t affect whether or not they can watch their brothers’ backs, or if they’re loyal. That’s what matters at the end of the day.”
I saw the men in a new light. They weren’t only willing to risk their lives to save me, but they seemed so accepting of other people. And Fox had mentioned the Hades Abyss helping those who were less fortunate. I wished there were more people in the world like these big, tough men. They could just as easily crush those weaker than them than try to help them.
It made me proud to be part of the Hades Abyss family, and to be Hatchet’s daughter. I hadn’t felt pride in myself, much less my family, in a long time. My mother hadn’t exactly been a prize. She’d looked down on most people and had been insanely jealous of anyone better off than she was. Instead of molding me in her image, she’d made me realize I didn’t want to be anything like her. People didn’t respect her. She didn’t have true friends. She could keep her cold, heartless life.
The front door open and shut again. A breathless man appeared, his shirt half-untucked and his hair mussed. “We need to talk.”
“Surge, figured you’d be busy for a bit,” Copper said.
He waved him off. “Yes, yes. Snake came to see me, but Wire and Lavender ran across something and called. Those guards didn’t act alone.”
“What’s that mean, exactly?” Fox asked, his voice going cold and hard.
“Raven’s mom.” Surge’s gaze locked on mine. “She paid them.”
My world spun and had I not been sitting, I’d have fallen. My mother paid the men who’d been hurting me? What sort of monster had given birth to me? I heard Hatchet roar and the front door slam. An engine revved, and I had a feeling he’d just taken off. I hoped he didn’t plan on riding all the way to wherever my mother was living these days.
“How did she know?” I asked.
“She may have said shit to your face, but in her circle of friends she either toed the line or ran her mouth to someone who found her offensive. I’m guessing she’d have backtracked and tried to save face. It’s clear she thinks highly of her reputation, and badmouthing her daughter wasn’t the way to make friends in the elite social circles she’s aiming for. After you left, she had to put on a big production about her baby girl missing,” Surge said. “Gave the cops your prints and DNA. Balmoral found you in the system when they processed you as a patient. Your mother knew exactly where you were because they called her.”
“Two days.” I licked my lips. “I had two days of no one bothering me.”
“Probably took them that long to find her,” Surge said. “It wasn’t just the guards, Raven. The doctor knew. We thought all this time that he’d tried to sweep the scandal under the proverbial rug, but he was saving his own ass when the nurse came forward about how you’d left with Breaker and why. He couldn’t have anyone know that your mom had paid him too, to put her in touch with those men and to look the other way while they hurt you.”
Tears gathered and slipped down my cheeks. “Why? Why would she do something like that?”
“I may know. No one here will like it, though,” Surge said.
“So fucking tell us already,” Fox said, lifting me onto his lap and holding me close. “Rip the damn bandage off, Surge.”
He took a breath and dropped a sheath of papers on the table. He pointed at the stack. “Dug deep into your mom, Raven, once I found out someone paid the guards. Went back all the way before your birth. Your mom didn’t come from a wealthy family, but they were well-off. And she’d been trying to get her hooks into some rich boy.”
“But got knocked up by dad. I don’t understand. She’d been dating him, or so he said.”
Surge nodded. “She was. There are pictures of the two of them together. What your dad probably didn’t know is that she’d been seeing someone else too. A college boy with a well-connected family. When she got pregnant with you, her plan went to shit. From what I’ve been able to dig up, I think your dad had been the only one she was sleeping with. Except I think the college guy must have found out about you before your mom had a chance to get the abortion she’d told Hatchet she’d get. He clearly never questioned whether you were his, which tells me there was zero chance it was possible.”
Spider motioned for him to get on with it.
“The college guy helped your mom financially for a short while. Then a few months after you were born, he married a woman with a similar social standing to his. I think your mom hated you from that moment on,” Surge said.
“She never really did give many hugs. She’d been a bit distant, but I thought maybe she just wasn’t the emotional type,” I said. “My childhood wasn’t awful. It could have been a lot worse.”
“Your mom thought she was in the clear after what happened with the cowboys. You left and she could live her life without a kid hanging around her neck. Until people asked about you. Apparently, no one knew she threw you out. She gave a sob story about you running away and tried to cover her tracks.” Surge folded his arms. “Balmoral reached out to let her know you were in their care and had tried to kill yourself. I think you popping back up infuriated your mom enough she wanted you to hurt. So she paid the doctor off, as well as the guards. Her new husband-to-be is none other than Missouri State Senator Phillip Lewis.”
“Please tell me the bitch is in Washington and not here,” Fox said.
“They’re at the Lewis family home, just outside Branson.” Surge cracked his neck. “We have to be careful. She’s too in the spotlight to go after her outright. Which means we need to handle her a different way. I know you’d like to gut her, Fox, and I’m sure Hatchet does too, but it would bring down heat on all of us.”
“I’m going after Hatchet,” Nitro said. “I’ll get him calmed down and bring him back.”
I snuggled into Fox, wondering if this nightmare would ever end. If my mom had landed herself a politician, would it ever be over? Or did she have enough power at her fingertips now to make sure no one ever knew what she’d done?