My mind drifted for a while when Benicio and the men talked business, until I heard Benicio say, "Blaze asked us to keep tabs on you, Axe."
Blaze held his hands up. "Not because I thought any of this was going down," he said. "Hell. I had no idea Mad Dog was involved in anything like this. I asked because I thought you were in a bad place, is all."
Benicio nodded. "Which is why my men weren't tracking you very well, just checking on you every so often."
"It was your men who got picked up in West Bend," Cade said.
Benicio nodded. "I instructed them to keep their distance. They were picked up before we knew about the Inferno members in West Bend. My intel did not indicate Mad Dog knew."
"Who - you knew we weren't killed in the warehouse? How?" Cade asked.
"My investigators," Benicio said.
"But the other bodies - " Crunch said.
Benicio shook his head. "There were no other bodies. I suspected this was some type of power play by Mad Dog and I had promised Blaze to keep an eye on you. When we saw that it was members of your own club who were responsible, I needed to buy you some time."
So Benicio faked their deaths.
"How?" Cade asked.
Benicio waved his hand dismissively. "I have warehouses in Vegas, a route through the southwest. It's in my best interest to have certain people on payroll. And journalists aren't difficult to bribe."
I looked at Blaze, whose jaw was set. "Mad Dog was stealing from you, but we obviously want to take care of this ourselves."
"I would expect no less," Benicio said. "But my men are at your disposal. You would be wise to use them."
Axe nodded. "But Crunch and I will be the ones to kill them. It will be our hands that do the deed."
"As is your right," Benicio said.
I looked at Axe, his hands clenched, his jaw set.
Could I do this? Could I follow him into the abyss?
I guess the better question was, how could I not?
Outside Benicio's house, Blaze and Crunch and Cade talked. I caught snippets of the conversation.
"Benicio can provide the muscle, but we need to take it to the club. Take it to the brothers we know are loyal," Blaze said.
Cade shook his head. "None of this goes to the club. We can't trust anyone."
"It was Mad Dog, not the whole club..." Blaze said.
Dani turned to me, her expression grim. "It's not always like this," she said. "All of the...bad things happening."
I nodded, but I wasn't sure I believed her.
Axe
“You’re a hundred percent sure you don’t want to leave?” I asked. “You can still turn around and head back to West Bend, forget about all of this.”
June’s face looked somber, and she smiled wanly. I was afraid she would be eaten alive by this.
“I’m not turning around, Cade,” she said. She said it slowly, deliberately, but her tone was emotionless, detached. She had been that way since my dad and April were killed.
Three days ago.
It felt like a lifetime. I felt like I’d aged a lifetime.
We interacted like a pair of robots, numbly going about the business of what you do when two of the closest people in your life are killed. Jed, the prick, had the balls to actually tell us not to leave town, to call us “persons of interest” in the investigation. If June hadn’t hung on to me, I would have killed him. That was three days ago. That’s the last time I remember actually feeling anything.
Right now, I felt blank.
I only knew I wanted blood.
“Axe. They all call you Axe here.” June’s voice broke me out of my thoughts.
I nodded. “It’s been my name for years, June.”
“Axe,” she said again, her voice flat. I wasn’t sure I liked how it sounded when she said it. “It suits you."
“Things won’t be the same after we do this,” I said. “I won’t be the same.”
“You're not the same now."
“I’ve been down this road before, June.” I needed to warn her. What this did to me, it wasn’t good. It wouldn’t be good. Killing people wasn’t good for me.
She nodded. "Cade. Axe. Things won't be the same again."
My voice cracked. “You might not like who I become.”
“You forget, Axe. I’ve been through dark places.”
“And you chose light.” I said. “You chose to walk the straight and narrow.”
“Not always,” she said. “And not now. I know what I’m choosing. I’m choosing you. Whether it’s to walk in darkness or in light, I’m choosing to do it with you.”
“You might regret that choice,” I said.
“Then it’s mine to regret.”
“This is the place?” Crunch asked. We sat out of sight, in an alley around the corner from the building in one of Benicio’s cars, a dark SUV that branded us immediately as dealers. Not that there were many people around here to notice; this wasn't exactly an area you wanted to be out in, not at night. Benicio's muscle was with us, silent as usual.