“I have to tell you something, something you can never, ever repeat, because the whole club and everyone else we love would be at risk. It’s just—” She blinks away tears. “I can’t hold this secret, not on my own. I promised, but I just can’t.”
author’s note
You’re reading the latest episode in summer 2024’s River Reapers MC miniseries. If you’re already caught up on all six episodes, stay tuned.
If you’re just coming in now, you don’t need to read the books to follow along, but you do need to catch up on Parts 1-5!
catch up
Cliff
Something is wrong. I can tell by the way Olivia shrinks into Lucy’s condo, making herself smaller with each step inside. She closes the front door and leans against it, rose red lips sighing softly. I don’t want to push her but I don’t want to leave her lonely in whatever she’s going through. I don’t want to scare her, either—last time I startled her in Lucy’s living room, she went all MMA on me. Which was hot, not gonna lie. I love that my girl can take care of herself.
Sometimes I just wish she’d let me take care of her, though.
So I stand real slow and say, real soft, “Hey.”
She walks into my open arms, resting her head and its soft curls against my hard chest. In prison, there wasn’t much else to do other than workout and read, so I went in scrawny and walked out stacked, with a lot of interesting but ultimately useless knowledge.
They don’t exactly want people to better themselves, not really.
“Something happened,” I say more than ask.
She nods, the slightest movement that I wouldn’t have caught if her head wasn’t right on my chest. My heart slams against my sternum and I know she can hear it. All I can do is pray to a god I don’t even believe in that the something that happened isn’t the something I fear most.
There are now three women in my life that I love more than anything: the fiery redhead who I still think of as my baby cousin, her green-eyed daughter who is no longer a baby but will always be Baby, then there’s Olivia, my baby, the love of my life, the one I want to build a future with. If anything happened to any of them, I’d rip the earth apart with my bare hands until I’ve beaten everyone responsible back to dust.
Olivia pulls away from me but slips her hand into mine, leading me back to the couch. “I have to tell you something, something you can never, ever repeat, because the whole club and everyone else we love would be at risk. It’s just—” She blinks away tears. “I can’t hold this secret, not on my own. I promised Ravage, but I just can’t.”
A growl rises in my throat. I’m sick to death of Ravage and his secrets. So much so that I’m wondering if maybe it’s time for a change in leadership. Because we can’t all keep fumbling in the dark, not if we’re going to survive. Not while he keeps all the club’s secrets, only telling the rest of us when he deems it necessary. Someone’s going to get killed that way.
Maybe even one of the women I love most.
But I swallow my rage and say to Olivia, “Tell me.”
“The club makes its money three ways: flesh, drugs, and guns. Ravage, Mercy, and your father Bastard wanted to do better than other MCs. Instead of helping sell women and children into sexual slavery, they founded The Wet Mermaid, where women of age could voluntarily dance for a living. We work with Shannon’s Haven, offering jobs to survivors of sexual and physical abuse in not just dancing, but also bartending, waitressing, and management. We essentially give survivors a way to reclaim their power. I’m proud of that. I’m proud to be a part of it.
“We also sell drugs, literally under the bar counter. I’m… I’m not so proud of that. My foster parents—Lucy’s parents, your aunt and uncle—are big cokeheads, and they get their coke through us. Not me—they don’t ever come in here when I’m working. But they’ve always been a part of this club, all while pretending to look down their noses at it.
“I’ve sold coke, pills, and weed at that bar, while pouring drinks. I’m not proud of that, not at all, and if I was President or even VP of this MC, I’d change that in a heartbeat.
“But it’s not so simple.
“Because we also deal in guns. Every single one of us has a piece. Even you, Cliff. The serial numbers have been filed off, making it obvious they weren’t acquired legally. The Wet Mermaid not only serves as our clubhouse and a licensed strip club, but also as a front for laundering that drug and gun money. And today I learned where those drugs and guns really come from.
“Just like I learned what happened to Tommie’s mother.
“Ravage was dating her—well, I say ‘dating’ loosely. Shannon had kicked him out because he was fucking this other woman: Tommie’s mother. She was one of the club hangarounds. She really liked her coke, Ravage says.
“So my first thought, when we were sitting in his office and he told me all this, was that maybe she died of an overdose. Maybe she accidentally OD’d and he panicked and dumped her body. But that… that’s just not Ravage. I know he’s a killer. I know what he’s capable of. I know he can be colder than ice. But he’s not that cold. Not at all.
“No, what really happened is so much worse, Cliff. So much worse.
“Because we’re in bed with the mafia. The Violante family, specifically. And Tommie’s mother saw something she wasn’t supposed to, all because Ravage couldn’t keep his dick in his pants. So they got rid of her. They got rid of her, Cliff, and then Ravage and everyone else pretended they’d never even heard of little Tommie’s mother.
“Tommie went into the foster care system,” Olivia says with a sob. “She went to horrible people in horrible homes who did horrible things to her, and she never ever knew what really happened to her mother. But I know. Ravage knows. And now you know, too.
“And we can never, ever tell her, because the Violantes will make us all disappear. Us, and Lucy, and even innocent little Bunny. Tommie, too. All because Ravage couldn’t keep his dick to himself.
“And now I’m not proud at all,” she finishes with tears flowing down both sides of her face, and my heart breaks, the cracks filling in with rage, burning through me until all I can see is red.
To be continued…
Deck Out Your Ereader
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