"So, you need help and the person you come to is the one who had a complete mental breakdown only weeks ago?"

He shuffles and does his best to hold this barely conscious guy up. As my eyes adjust from light to dark I see bruises and blood covering his face, shirt, cut, and pants. "I need your help and to make sure you stay safe."

When I take him in, his serious expression and his body, everything I had been going through falls away. The depression is forgotten and my nerves come back. "What's the password?"

Adonis lifts a brow and catches on immediately. "Seriously?! Right now, Tater Tot?!"

"Password," I say crossing my arms over my chest.

Adonis shifts the guy up and I can tell he's struggling holding him up with each passing second. "How about the promise to tell you later."

I tap my chin. "Depends, are you a man of your word?"

"For God's sake, Georgie."

"Fine, but I'm holding you to that promise and you know I won't stop until I get it. I'll annoy it out of you."

"Is your dad home?" he questions, ignoring my tirade.

"No, but Amber is, so be quiet when you go in."

"That's fine." He grumbles as he lifts the guy up who keeps sliding down. "She'll find out soon enough."

"I feel like I just entered an episode of Riverdale," I say as I make my way over to them to help with this load....

LOAD OF GARBAGE!!!!

"He's with the Silencers?!" I hiss out in full on rage, whipping away so fast my head spins.

Adonis gives a frustrated growl. "I'll explain everything, but first help me get him in the house."

"Oh, absolutely not!" I snap. "There's no way."

"Georgie, please." Adonis's voice startles me and something about the anger and desperation soaking his tone makes me move.

"Fine, but if he gains a few added injuries while staying at my house, you can't get mad at me for it."

There's a deep chuckle that's eerily familiar. "I knew I'd like her."

We awkwardly make our way into the kitchen and get him in the kitchen table chair as he grunts in pain, resting his back against the wall. The guy has been beaten badly. There's blood running down his face that is so swollen and heavily damaged, I have no idea what kind of appearance he has. He's just as big as Adonis and looks like he'd been struck by a car then pounded on and left for dead.

The clacking of something hitting the table gains my attention and Adonis pulls out all sorts of first aid supplies I didn't even know we had. As he gets to work mending this Silencer dude, I decide to grab both of them some extra clothes from dad's room.

As I pull out some clothes my mind whirls with all different types of possibilities to what is happening. None of them make sense. Heading back to the kitchen, Adonis is bent over stitching up the guy's side. I watch absently as he pierces the guys skin with a needle and the guy clenches his jaw that has a rag in it and hits his fist against the table with each piercing, which makes me smile a little.

Sadistic much?!

I quietly walk in. "There's a bathroom right down the hall if he's okay enough to shower.

Pulling his rag out of his mouth, the guy grunts out, "I'll manage and yes you are sadistic." He shoves the rag back in his mouth. Adonis pours some kind of alcohol over the ugly slice, running from his hip all the way to the middle of his ribs.

Once Adonis is done it looks like a smiley face had been ripped off of Jack Skellington and slapped on his side. The guy latches his hand onto Adonis's and is hoisted up. I hand Adonis one of the pair of clothes as he passes by me and helps the unknown assailant into the bathroom.

I walk over to the kitchen table where bloody clothes and all types of first aid stuff lay. Adonis comes back looking worn and tense. Irritation bubbles inside of me and I drop the clothes for him on the table then cross my arms as I breathe in through my nose signifying my anger.

"What's going on? Why is there a Silencer in our house?" I don't let him explain and start pacing with wide eyes on the floor. "I knew it was weird how you defended them. I mean are you like secretly friends with them, betraying us—"

"Georgie." I spin on my heel and point my finger at him as I'm about to say something else, but his next words make me freeze on the spot. "I was part of the Silencers."

My ears ring and all sound vanishes as that fishbowl encases me once again. My mouth moves, but I can't hear anything. It isn't until Adonis tries to touch me that I snap out of it and jerk away.

"Is he a buddy of yours or something?" I spit out.

Adonis's face is set in a guarded manner with his brows furrowed and mouth in a straight line. His blind eye is duller than usual and his green one has a glaze over it.

"He's my brother."

"You're brother? You have a brother?" I ask in shock and annoyance. "Does anyone know about this? My dad? Arch? Ducky?"

The second hand on the clock ticks loudly as I wait for his answer. "So, no," I answer for him.

"Will you let me explain?" he asks.

"You should listen to him." I turn at an eerily similar voice and see his brother leaning against the door frame and holding his side. He looks better and now that the blood is off his face I can see the similarities, despite the disfiguring of his face.

"That was fast." I glare at him. Biting my cheek, I point my thumb behind me for Adonis. "Go get changed. I'll be waiting out here with your lovely brother."

Once he's gone. I stomp over to the guy and he's just as tall as Adonis and big. How I didn't put this together shows how much these past few weeks has affected my usually sharp senses.

I hold up my orange cast for his puffy eyes to see."Your buddies broke my wrist, gave me this scar on my face and bruised some of my ribs. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't bludgeon you to death with this cast right here and now."

"I had no idea they were going to do that and if I did it wouldn't have happened," he says with nothing but seriousness.

I step away and look him up and down while sucking in my cheek. "If I were to say I believed you, it would help your chances greatly if... you tell me his real name."

"Is that what the password was supposed to be?" He chuckles out wincing as he does. "I'll take my chances."

"What's your name?" I counter.

"Go by Bones."

My eyes narrow at him and I know he's fighting to keep himself up. I give out a frustrated sigh through my nose and slide underneath his good side, making him tense. "Come on, you'll be more comfortable on the couch."

We manage to awkwardly get him there and just as he's about to fall into it, Adonis appears out of nowhere and helps so that his stitches don't open.

"Alright, explain please."

Adonis sits next to his brother and I sit on the love seat. My overalls need adjusting and once I'm situated I give Adonis and his brother my full attention. "How much of all of this has been a charade. Are you planning something against us?"

"I was part of it. I'm not anymore."

"So why hide?"

"Because the reason he became part of the club was to infiltrate it and if your club finds out he'll be stripped of everything," Bones answers.

I look to Adonis. "You were going to betray everyone? Did you even serve?"

"Yes." Comes his automatic reply. "I joined right after our sister was killed."

"So that part was true."

Both their faces fall and tense. "Yes."

Adonis rakes his hands through his locks pushing them back out of his face. "The Salvation was barely a blimp in the radar when I left, but each time my tour was over it grew and fast. Because I was barely around they didn't know me so I was the perfect person to go into the enemy territory."

"You were part of a gang? Who helped move drugs and God knows what else," I whisper heatedly.

His eyes clash on mine. "I told you when we first met that I'm the devil. I've done some seriously bad things in my past."

"And now?" I question hurtfully.

"All I care about is protecting everyone I care about," he answers.

"And who are those people?" I ask.

"Some of them Silencers, all of the Salvation and most of all you," he replies with not an ounce of shame or guilt.

"Why do you want to protect the Silencers?"

"Some," he states quickly and forcefully, leaning in. "It's not as black and white as you think it is."

"So, what? You're on both sides?" I do my best to keep my voice down, but it's getting hard.

Bones cuts in. "Not all our guys are bad, doll face. A lot of them are kids needing protection and taken advantage of by our old man."

"Old man?" I repeat suspiciously.

Adonis comes over to me and crouches down in front of me. "Our dad is the President and before him was our grandfather and so on. Our family started the gang and it's been passed down each generation."

"None of this is answering what happened to you two. You're only confusing me more and getting me primed and ready to throw you out."

Adonis licks his lips and something about how he looks defeated like everything he's about to tell me is going to destroy him, makes me reach out to him. My fingers touch his locks that keep falling in his face and I push them back. "Just tell me."

His pearl and deep green eyes burn into mine. "Our old man made us believe a member of the Salvation killed our sister."

"A convenient accident is how he put it." Bones bites out.

"But no one would ever do that," I say in disbelief.

"We didn't know that," Adonis states. "Military men who struggle with PTSD and lash out in violent tantrums, it seemed too coincidental."

"Did they?" I dared to ask.

He gives me a small smile. "No,Tater Tot."

Relaxing, I go to ask my next question but Bones beats me to it. "I heard him. One night he didn't know I was home when he was with some of the other higher ups."

I lean forward. "Heard what?"

Adonis takes a deep angry breath. "He killed her."

Bones clenches his fists. "Said he had too."

My blood runs cold and I sit back in horror. "He murdered his own daughter?"

"Drowned her near a river around here," Adonis whispers out.

"All to make it look like the Salvation did it." Bones finished. Dad saw it as the perfect opportunity. Get rid of her and pin it on a rival club that was just starting to form. Unfortunately for him there was no firm evidence to prove the Salvation had anything to do with it besides a convenient location. Didn't think it through."

Adonis stands and leans against the wall. "So, we strategized a plan. I betrayed the Silencers my own blood and fully committed to the Sons of Salvation. Bones stayed back and earned his place next to our father, but in order to do that..."

"What?" My skin prickles and my body seems to know the answer before my brain can put all the pieces together.

Bones clenches his jaw tight. "When he defected I was the one who had to shoot him to prove my loyalty."

My eyes widened. "You shot Adonis in the face?"

"He had too," Adonis responds for him. "We needed our father to believe the lie."

"What if you had died?" I shoot up.

"I didn't, that's all that matters," Adonis says coolly.

"But how does everyone in the club not know who you are? Why wouldn't your dad tell them?" I ask.

"My dad's smart. He knew if he told them the truth he wouldn't be able to get any new informant in to take my place. Plus, once he learned I survived he knew I'd give the cops everything about the Silencers if he tried exposing me."

I raise my arms up in the air."Why didn't you?"

"Because it's too risky," Bones replies tiredly. "We don't want the good ones to suffer for it."

"So instead," Adonis continues, "I built an army with the Salvation. I took their club and made an empire."

My skin goes ice cold and I step away from them both. "You're the reason for this animosity? This war? You're using the Salvation for your revenge," I whisper out in disbelief.

Adonis walks slowly over to me and gently grasps my arms and I can see him calculating some away to get me to understand. "The rivalry started when this club formed. At first, yes, it was about revenge, but it didn't take long, even before Bones found out the truth, for me to see that these are good men, brothers that I respect and die for."

I push back. "Then why haven't you told them?"

Adonis straightens to his full height and drops his hands. His biceps and forearms tense causing his muscles to bulge as he slides both hands through his hair. "I was going to. I was ready to be stripped and thrown out for the good of the club. We would've been willing to help, but that was doubtful. We were going to leave and never come back."

Dread slides into my veins like the drugs the nurses injected into my IV. "Why didn't you."

He's silent and Bones answers for him. "Because the day he was going to, was the day he picked you up from the gas station. That was our rendezvous spot."

My heart thunders in my chest and my head whips over to him. "But—"

Adonis's voice is low and hits me hard. "You were a weak link. I knew as soon as you stepped foot in this town they'd be after you."

"It's my fault?" I ask as agony claws at the back of my throat.

"No." Adonis interjects a little too quickly. "Not even a little."

Bones shifts on the couch grunting. "You were just an innocent girl that stumbled into the lion's den. But you proved to us that we can't run from this."

I'm not convinced, but the main reason for them being here trumps that bombshell. "What happened these last three weeks?"

"Dad found out Bones was betraying them." Adonis sighs and clenches his jaw. "I had to move and fast to get him out. I got there before any serious damage could've been done to him. We were able to get out but we fell into some trouble with a couple of the members. They think we're on the road far away from here that's what we made them believe, but what they don't know is that we're about to end this and with the Salvation's help. First, I need to come clean."

"I would say that's a real good idea." We all turn to Ducky who's leaning against the doorframe between the kitchen and living room.

Adonis stiffens and Ducky strolls in. "TreeTrunk has me on duty here since you've been MIA and when I saw that the back garage door was wide open I came waltzing in."

Adonis narrows his eyes at me and I fling my arms in the air. "Hey! A lot was going on."

"I heard everything by the way," Ducky says as he plops down next to Bones. "You could've told me. I would've helped."

Ducky sizes Bones up. "I could take you."

Bones cracks a smirk. "Now maybe."

"I like him," Ducky states as he tousles Bone's black hair. "I always wanted a little brother."

"I'm twenty-eight not thirteen."

A loud yawn interrupts us along with footsteps coming down the stairs. A tired Amber stands on the last step in tiny shorts and a loose grey t-shirt with her usually smooth hair thrown in a messy bun, rubbing her tired eyes. "What's going on?"

Ducky turns to Bones. "Don't even think about it."

There's a knock on the front door and we all stare at one another. "Okay, I know it's not me expecting any visitors since I have like zero friends," I say.

Adonis looks through the peephole and then a smirk graces his face. He opens the door and someone walks in taking off their helmet making bright red hair tumbles down. Dana stands there looking pleased. She throws the helmet on the couch along with a Silencer jacket. She's in men's clothing, but still looks effortlessly beautiful as she shakes out her luscious red locks. Nova comes striding in wearing the same jacket and a bike helmet at his side as well.

"Did it work?"Adonis asks.

"Wait, Nova was in on it but not me?" Ducky barks out. "How long has he known?"

Nova smirks. "Since Adonis came to me weeks ago asking for help. If you didn't have a big mouth he probably would've asked you." He turns to Adonis. "They followed us until we hit Tennessee and made them believe they drove you out."

"Worked like a charm, love bug," Dana says pressing her body against Adonis. She starts fiddling with his cut. "Now for my payment." She looks up at him through her thick lashes with eyes of a vixen then pulls his head down.

I watch in horror as freaking drop dead gorgeous Dana kisses Adonis in a way that makes me look like a kindergartener who had played a little game of pucker up. He pushes her off and I book it for the kitchen.

And don't look back.

Why?

Because I'm about to rip that nasty woman's larynx right out of her throat.