Jett (18 page)

“You don’t know that.  Listen, I’m going to gather the brothers and we’ll be there as soon as we can.  It’ll take a few hours to drive up, so hang tight.”

“I gotta go find Jett, Rusty.”

“Right.  Okay, call her manager.  Make him come to the hotel, when he gets there, make him stay there with Jesse. Don’t let him call the cops, under any circumstances.  I’m going to have the Portland chapter of the Bastards come over to stay there until we arrive. They should be there pretty quickly.  We’ll take care of this internally.  We’ll find this prick that’s responsible and we’ll make sure he pays.  We’ll find Jett, too.  See what you can find out in the meantime.  Try to get a line on where she might have gone.  My bet is the killer isn’t finished.  Jett still isn’t safe.”

“I hear you, Rusty.  Thank you, brother,” I said, choking on my words.  It took all my willpower to stay there, to make the calls that followed, and not just get out there and look for Jett.  I had no idea where to look, though.

First, I called Seth.  I didn’t tell him what happened, I just insisted he come to Jett’s room immediately, and I did the same with Sam.  They were all staying in the same hotel, and Sam arrived first.

When I yanked open the door, she was staring at the blood stain on the carpet in the hallway.

“What happened!” she exclaimed.

“Get in here,” I said, grabbing her arm and pulling her in.  When she saw the covered body on the floor, her eyes widened and she screamed.

“Shhh!” I said, putting a hand over her mouth.  “Don’t make a sound, understand? No screaming.”  

She nodded and I removed my hand.

“Is…um…is that Jett?” she said, her voice high-pitched with fear.

“What? No! Fuck. No, that’s Jesse.”

“Oh.  My god!  Did you kill him?” she asked, slowly creeping back towards the front door.

“What! No, for fuck’s sake! Why would I kill my brother?”

“Well, I don’t know…” her shoulder relaxed slightly.  “Then who did?”

The knock on the door interrupted us, and I left her staring down at Jesse’s body as I went to open it.

Seth was also staring at the blood when I opened the door.

“What the hell happened?” he asked.  When he saw the anger on my face, he started backing up into the wall.

“Come in!” I barked. He shook his head, his eyes filled with fear.  “Now, goddammit!”

He jumped, and his feet started moving.  I slammed the door behind him, and he stood over Jesse’s body, staring down at it silently.

“What happened?” his voice was barely a whisper.

“I don’t know. I was here with Jett all night.  Jesse was guarding the door, and when I opened it this morning, I found him lying on the ground.  Someone slit his throat.  He bled out,” I explained, my words mechanical and sounding as if they were coming from somewhere else.  

“Oh, my god!” Sam exclaimed, sinking to the couch and shaking her head.  “Who could have done something like this?”

“Who do you think?!” I growled.  “Crazy Jack!”

“No way,” Seth said, his eyes still glued to Jesse’s body. “No way.”

His denial pissed me off even more. It seemed so obvious to me, why would it be anyone else?  

“Who the fuck else would it be, Seth?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he said, finally raising his eyes and looking around the penthouse.  “Where’s Jett? We should call the cops. Did you call them already?”

“No fucking cops!  My club is on the way, and we’re going to take care of this ourselves.”

“What? That’s absurd,” he said, pulling his phone out of his suit pocket and beginning to dial.  I grabbed his phone out of his hand, and put it in my pocket.

“I said no cops, goddammit.  The cops aren’t going to help, they haven’t helped so far.”

“Where’s Jett?” he asked again.

“Well, I’m hoping you can help me with that.  She was very upset when we found Jesse’s body.  She ran out, she took King’s keys and she fled by herself.”

“She’s alone? Now?” he said.

“Yeah, so you can see why I’m alarmed, right?”

“Did you try to call her?”

“Of course, you fucking idiot! Her phone is turned off.”

“Well, fine,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “But why did you let her go?”

I was beyond aggravated with him, and my anger erupted as I wrapped my fingers around his scrawny little neck.

“I didn’t let her do anything, you little fuck.  She left when I wasn’t looking.  She blames herself for all of this.  But you know who I blame, motherfucker?” I was growling, my voice deep and rumbling in my ears.

Seth didn’t say anything, he couldn’t.  His hands flailed around as he tried to escape my grip.

“I blame you,” I said, seething with fury.  “You don’t give a shit about Jett.  All you care about is her image, her fame, and whatever money you’re scamming out of this whole fucking game.”

His eyes were tearing up and beginning to bulge out of his head.  I shoved him backwards onto the couch before he suffocated.  The last thing I needed was another dead body.

“Now,” I continued, pacing in front of the two of them like a caged tiger.  “I need to find Jett.  She told me about a cabin she bought a long time ago.  She said it was somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.  I have no idea where it is, but if I was betting, that’s where I’d say she was going.  So where is it?”

Sam just shook her head and shrugged.

One look at Seth and I knew he knew exactly what I was talking about.

“You’d better starting talking fast, you fuck,” I said, towering over him.

“I remember the cabin.  It - it was a l-long time ago.  I tried to talk her out of it, but she insisted on buying it,” he said, his voice shaking with fear.

“I bet you did.  Where is it?”

“About an hour outside of Portland.  A town called Rhododendron, it’s at the foothills of Mt. Hood.  But I really doubt —,” 

“Shut up!” I interrupted him.  “What the address?’

“I - I don’t know.  She never told me.  She insisted on having a place that nobody knew, she completed the sale on her own, did all the paperwork herself. I don’t even know if there is an address, it’s down some secluded logging road in the middle of nowhere. She didn’t want me to know where it was, I don’t know why…” his voice trailed off.

“Yeah, I’m not surprised,” I replied.  “Fuck.”

“Colt, we have to call the police,” Sam said.  

“No, we don’t,” I replied.

“Well, what about Jesse’s body?” she asked.

“I have some people coming.  They’ll take care of everything.  I think you’d best be getting on the phone and canceling the rest of the tour.  I don’t think Jett’s going to be coming back anytime soon, and she certainly won’t be performing for awhile.  Don’t release anything about the murder.  That’s what this sick fuck wants, is for us to react and make a big deal in the media about this.  It’s not going to work the way he thinks, though.”

“I don’t understand, who is coming?” Seth asked.

“The Loyal Bastards Motorcycle Club.  My brothers.  We take care of our own, we don’t turn our bodies over to the fucking cops.”

As if on cue, another knock sounded at the door.  When I opened it, I had never been more grateful to see a long line of cuts file through the door.

If Sam and Seth weren’t already wide-eyed, they were now.  Six huge tattooed men streamed in, standing over Jesse’s body, their faces filled with rage that matched my own.

“Brothers, thank you for coming,” I said.  I had met these brothers several times over the years, our clubs often helping each other out when business demanded it.

Hal, the President of our Portland chapter, hugged me.

“I’m so sorry to hear about Jesse, Colt,” he said, his arm on my shoulder.  “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s all fucked up, man.  It’s all my fault.  Did Rusty fill you guys in?”

“He did.  He also told me you aren’t to blame.  Blaming yourself isn’t going to help anyone, Colt.  Right now, it’s time to take care of business.  We’re here to help in any capacity, anything you need, brother.”

“Thank you, Hal, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that.”  I turned to the rest of the club and gestured towards the couch.  “This is Sam and Seth. They’re going to hang out with you for a while.  I need to go find Jett.  Rusty and the rest of my club are going to be here soon to take care of Jesse.  In the meantime, I’m going to need to borrow a bike so I can go look for Jett.”

“Of course, brother, here you go,” Hal said, handing me his keys.  “We’re parked right out front.  Mine’s the first on the right.  You got a full tank of gas.”

“Thank you, Hal,” I said.  “These two need to make some phone calls to cancel Jett’s tour, but under no circumstances are they to call the police or tell anyone about Jesse.  Please make sure they’re monitored closely.”

“You got it, Colt, we won’t let them out of our sight,” Hal said, his huge hulking frame shadowing both Sam and Seth as they sat bewildered and quiet on the couch, “or earshot.”

“You’re just going to leave us here?” Seth asked, his voice full of confusion.

“That’s right. I’d suggest you’d try not to get away, either,” I replied.  

“But I can’t stay here! I have work to do —,” he protested.

“Not anymore you don’t,” I said over my shoulder as I walked out of the room.

I stopped at the hotel lobby to ask for directions to Rhododendron, and five minutes later, I was on the back of Hal’s bike and flying down the freeway, the pouring rain pelting me relentlessly.  I didn’t care.  I barely noticed.

I had one thing on my mind, and one thing only.

I had to get to Jett.  If it was the last thing I did, I had to find her.  I didn’t have much of a plan, other than to drive down every fucking street in that stupid town, if that’s what it took.  

Seth said it was an hour outside of town, but it took me over an hour and a half to get there with the heavy rain.  Several times I felt the bike start to slip on the slick asphalt, but somehow I kept it upright.  Not only did the rain make the roads slippery, but it was almost impossible to see.  

I flew down Interstate 84, weaving in and out of traffic.  Everyone had slowed down, but I didn’t have time for that.  I knew it was dangerous, but I didn’t care.  Jett’s life was on the line, and I had already fucked up so badly, I couldn’t afford to do it again.

My exit approached, and I followed the signs to Highway 26, driving through Gresham and then finally turning onto the highway.  The clerk at the hotel had told me it was a straight shot from there, and for the next ten miles, I went as fast as the bike would take me.  The road was open, wet, slick and dark.  The thick forest on both sides of the road seemed to embrace me as I fought my way through the slashing rain.

By the time I had gone through downtown Sandy, I could see why Jett had fallen in love with this part of the country.  It was lush, rugged - yet pristine - the forested landscape practically pulsing with life around me.  It was peaceful, quiet.  Definitely a place to escape to.  A place to find the solitude that she must crave every day of her life.

She must feel awful, I thought.  She must blame herself.  But it’s not her fault, it’s mine.  I should have known better than to leave Jesse out there alone.  I should have at least stayed within earshot, but I didn’t.  Instead, I let my horniness get in the way, and I gave in to Jett’s teasing.  What kind of man was I that I would put my dick above the safety of the people I loved?

Loved.

I hadn’t loved anyone for a long time, other than my family of brothers.  That was different.

Jett was different.

She wasn’t like any woman I had ever known.  And I had known a lot.  I had made up for time spent behind bars in a big way once I got out.  I had hit puberty not long before the explosion, and was just beginning to understand how much pleasure could be found in a woman’s body.

If I was honest, I would admit that it had all begun with Jett.

From that first stupid kiss on the playground, to years later, when we would walk home from school together every day.  I would often catch myself watching her, studying her.  Watching the way she moved, the way her hips curved, or how her eyes sparkled when she laughed.  She was like a chameleon to me.  Always changing, always some new lilt to her laugh that I hadn’t heard before.  Sometimes, I’d catch a whiff of her hair after she had used a new shampoo, and it would linger in my mind for days.