“You are doing so good Lacey, Cypher is so proud of you.” Meg spoke with soft encouraging words but her whole body was locked up.
“I came to the club just for Cypher,” Lacey continued. “Razor brought me in for him. Said I was his type.”
Razor made to move but Angel grabbed him, holding him in place. I looked at Cypher and he looked like he’d had the air knocked out of his lungs.
Then Lacey dragged her eyes to meet Meg’s, “But he had already chosen you.” Her mouth twisted from the smile to something cruel, “You ruined everything.”
Meg didn’t react or respond, she stayed crouched down beside Lacey, eyes locked on hers. She stayed calm, watching and waiting.
Finally Lacey let out a strangled sound, “He was supposed to be mine.” Then like she was deciding something, she tilted her head back and forth, then looked at Cypher again saying, “Better to be selling then to be sold.”
Torch sucked in a breath behind them, his hands trembling at his side.
Meg’s voice was cold when she said, “So you knew. You didn’t just help, you were a part of it?”
Lacey nodded, eyes still locked onto Cypher, “I knew.”
“What is the code to the computer I took from you?” Meg asked, still squatted beside Lacey.
“The day I joined the club, the day I met Cypher.” Lacey’s voice had an almost dreamy quality to it and a shiver ran through me.
Angel motioned to Ledger who had a tablet in his hand and he was already scrolling.
Meg stood then, her eyes still locked on Lacey, “Not a lot of people know that I was raised by my three older Brothers and my Father. Even less know it is because a man who my dad was working to put away killed my mother. She pulled over to help a woman in need, a woman who my father later learned was working with the group… a woman who was responsible for luring several young women away from safety and to the group my dad was working to shut down.”
Meg lifted her gaze, her eyes moving past me and locking onto Cypher, she lingered for a moment before scanning the rest of the room.
“So while other people in this room may have a hard timedealingwith you. I have no issue being your Judge, Jury and Executioner.”
Lacey tipped her head up to Meg and smiled, closing her eyes.
Meg held out a hand to no one in particular as she said softly, “She loved to bake, I thought if I could be like her…” She shook her head. “Maybe dad was right…”
Torch moved forward to hand her his gun, but at the same time I heard Cypher shout“No.”from behind me. I wasn’t sure if it was a no to shooting Lacey or a no to Meg giving up the parts of herself you lose when you take a life. But then Cypher moved past me and before Irealized what was happening a single shot was fired and Lacey slumped forward in her chair.
Cypher turned to Meg repeating, “No, you don’t give that up.” and then he turned and walked out of the shed.
To my knowledge that was the first life Cypher had willingly taken and by the look on Meg’s face, she knew that too.
The room was quiet until Razor started laughing. He looked up at Angel, saying, “You can kill me, but I will always be a part of this club. Be a part of each and every one of you.”
Four stepped forward, “Enough of this shit, you are done.”
Razor grinned at him, “I am surprised you are here without Dani, I thought maybe she had your balls in her purse.”
Four’s grin was feral, “About that…” He motioned and Torch joined Angel pulling Razor to his feet. Four moved towards them pulling out a blade I recognized it as one of Razors. He held it out in front of him, testing the sharp blade.
“The thing about Razor’s is that they should always be sterilized.”
Then he moved quicker than a man his size should be able to and Razors’s scream filled the room. Four pulled the blade back, wiping it on Razor’s shirt as blood slowly started to pool beneath him.
Meg stood just to the side of them, her hands trembling at her side. I moved up beside her, touching her arm gently and then motioning to the door with my head.
She seemed frozen in place for a moment, but then she took a step towards me, faltering just for a moment when Razor let out another scream and Four chuckled. “You don’t need yours anymore.”
I reached for her good side with mine and guided her out of the shed, out into the open where she finally sucked in a deep breath. She looked up to the sky, taking in clean air. The stench in the shed felt far away and yet it still clung to us. A sound drew our attention and I noticed Cypher sitting on one of the picnic tables by the barbeques, the gun still in his hand, dangling between his knees, his eyes locked on it.
I made to take a step towards him, but Meg shook her head. “I’ve got him” she whispered, then she looked at the door to the shed and I nodded understanding what she was asking.