Cottonmouth: Soldiers Of Hades MC, #1

“What ya got here Python?” Pappy asked as he approached the table and took a seat.

“Brothers, this is the shooter that alerted us to the men on the roof tonight,” Python informed them. “Cobra and Cotton searched for her after the cartel had been taken but all they found was a backpack. We looked in the pack and were surprised by what we found. She followed us here to get it back.”

“What was in the pack?” Boone wanted to know. “Why would she come all this way to get it back?”

The woman turned head as her gaze spanned around the room. “Because it’s mine and you didn’t have the right to take it.” She growled.

“Sugar, they didn’t take it,” Cotton told her. “I did. I had no idea who you were or why you helped us but I’m glad you did. You saved a few lives tonight.”

“I’m not looking for glory or thanks. I did what was right. The fucking cartel just had to cheat yet again.” She shrugged. “I just evened the odds, that’s all.”

“Ok, well how did you know we were even there in the first place?” Pappy wanted to know.

“I didn’t,” she admitted easily. “I first saw you when you began moving in on the warehouse.”

“You were already watching the place weren’t you?” Cotton asked softly.

Pausing, she slowly turned her head and stared at him briefly.

“Why?” Python asked.

“Now that would be none of your business, wouldn’t it?” She raised a brow at him. “I was and am, no threat to you and yours. I got my own business to handle and do not want anything to do with you or yours.” She reached out to grab the pack and rose to her feet. She turned and began walking to the front door, Wolf following her faithfully.

Python called out, “So why then do you have two gold rings with the cartel insignia on them?”

Every man in the room turned their heads to stare at her.

“That is a very good question.” Pappy growled. “I’d like to hear the answer to that myself. Those rings are hard to come by and the only way to get them usually is to take them off the hands of a dead man.”

She turned slowly and glared at the whole damn bunch of them. Looking at Python, she raised an eyebrow. “How I got them and why I took them is my business, so I don’t have to tell you jack shit. Also, why I helped you tonight is my business but my reason still stands. I was evening the odds.”

“But you had no idea who we were or why we were there,” Boone countered. “For all you knew, you could have been alerting another cartel instead of us.”

“What were you looking for?” Python asked out of the blue. “Why were you already there waiting?”

“What makes you think I was?” she asked.

“You weren’t hiding on the ground, which means you were up in one of the trees.” Python shrugged his massive shoulders. “The more I think about it, you had to be in a tree to be able to see the roof when we couldn’t.”

Suddenly, she sighed heavily like she was tired or something. She then gazed down at Wolf.

The wolf dog stared back at her. Then he looked over at the men behind her and nudged her hand.

She then seemed to make up her mind and taking a deep breath, she exhaled and turned… going back to the table. She sat down and faced Python. “Yeah, old man I was up in the tree. Your sons almost found me but I had moved up higher into the branches to avoid being seen.”

“How did you know where to be and when?” Python frowned.

“Probably, the same way you did.” She nodded. “I listen to the whispers on the street. The only real thing is you need to know who you can take at face value and who you can’t. I’ve only been out here for almost a year, so I still have a lot to learn.”

“What do you mean? You’ve only been out here for almost a year?” Cotton frowned as he stared at her.

Slowly, she turned her head to look at him. “Which part of that statement didn’t you understand? I thought it was simple enough to understand.”

“Don’t get mouthy.” Cotton growled as he shifted in his seat.

Wolf got up and went to stand between her and Cotton’s chair. He gave off a low growl but made no other move.

“Call off your mutt,” Cotton growled as he stared at her.

“No,” she told him, completely ignoring him as she turned to Python. “I heard about this meeting and everyone I spoke to told me to stay away.”

“Why are you following the cartel?” Pappy asked. “They aren’t harmless men selling ice cream bars or some shit ya know?’

Shaking her head, she sighed. “I’m not following…” She air quoted with her fingers. “…the cartel. Well, not the cartel itself. I have been looking for three men. I found the first two.” She dug in her pocket and brought out the rings. Placing them on the table she added, “I only need the last one.”

“And what did these three men do to you?” Cobra asked.

She stared at him with no emotion on her face. “They took something away from me that I’ll never get back.”

“They raped you?” Python wanted to know.

She shook her head. “God no, they never would have gotten close enough for that to happen.”

“Then what did they take away from you?” Cobra repeated his question.

“My brother,” she whispered. “They fucking took my brother.”

“Can you give us more detail?” Boone demanded.

Pensive, she gazed down at the table, her eyes drawn to the two rings sitting there. When she started to speak her voice held no emotion at all, “We live just outside a small town called Lone Oak. My dad and my family run a farm there. Lone Oak isn’t very big, so we know all our neighbors, and when someone is in trouble or needs help, we stop and help them. My brother, Jeff saw a car along the side of the road and stopped to see if they needed help. They had a flat tire and were waiting on Triple A. Jeff told them he could change their tire. He then proceeded to do just that. When he got done, they gifted him with a bullet to his head, dropping him to the dirt. Then they laughed as they drove off.” Her voice went low and finally silenced altogether.

“How do you know that’s the way things happened?” Python asked after a long moment.

She coldly glanced over at him and replied, “There was a witness those three bastards didn’t see.”

Cobra frowned. “Who was the witness?”

“Jeff’s nine-year-old son. Travis was sitting in Jeff’s truck. He witnessed the entire exchange. The only reason he’s still alive is they didn’t see him. He stayed in the truck and when his dad got in trouble he kept watch but stayed hidden.” She took a deep breath and added, “As soon as things turned bad, Travis called me and sent me an image of what he saw from his phone and I actually saw the car driving away. Travis was sobbing and I had to stay with him. I couldn’t even go to Jeff but from the position of where they shot him. But it was already too late… I knew he was dead…”

“Is Travis okay now?” Python wanted to know.

She shook her head. “He’s alive, he eats and sleeps, but he lost. It’s like he’s in a daze and he hasn’t said a word in almost a year.”

“What about the boy’s mother?” Cotton wanted to know.

“Jill is barely hanging in there.” She shook her head. “She lost her husband and fears losing her son to the same senseless act.”

“What about your parents?” Pappy asked. “Are they still alive? What do they think?”

“They are trying to be strong,” she admitted as she refused now to look at any of the men in the room. “My dad wanted to get his gun and hunt down the bastards who shot Jeff and take the law into his own hands. My mom had a fight on her hands but after being married for almost forty years, she knew how to stop him.”

“So it was left to you?” Boone concluded.

She shook her head. “No.” She hung her head. “They didn’t know I was doing this until after I left. They would have stopped me if they had any idea I was going to do this.”

“Then why did you?” Cobra asked.

She lifted her head and glared at him as finally emotion filled her voice and her face. “Why? Did you just ask me why I did this?” At his nod, she snarled, “If someone killed your brother would you be able to sit on your hands and let the fucking useless police hunt these men down? Would you not do everything in your power to get justice for what they did?”

“You still took the law into your own hands,” Cobra snapped. “And became a killer yourself. Where is the justice in that? Are you any better than the men who did this?”

Pushing her chair back, she snatched the rings off the table. “I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but you don’t look like no fucking choir boy to me. So I’ll pass on your judging me, thank you very much.” She grabbed the backpack off the back of the chair and glared at him. Her gaze swept the entire table of very large intimidating men. Yet, there was not an ounce of fear in her eyes. She looked all the way around the room and ended up back at Cobra. “You don’t know me. Yes, I hunted down those bastards but I never killed anyone in this hunt. Not even the bastard I shot tonight. I put my bullet where it would weaken him but not kill him. I can’t help it he fell from that roof. I don’t regret it but I didn’t cause it.”

“If you didn’t kill those men, how the fuck did you get their rings?” Pappy wanted to know as he looked at her with a doubtful expression on his face.

Her cold mask came down over her beautiful face again. “Would you believe me even if I told you? Or would it just be easier to believe what you want to believe?” she asked no one in particular.

No one said a word.

Looking disgusted now, she hitched the pack up on her shoulder. “That’s what I thought. Y’all can go to hell. Whether you believe me or not, I know what happened and you don’t.” She turned and headed to the front door.

Wolf followed.

Everyone else just sat there and watched her leave.

Pappy looked over at Python and asked, “Are you just going to let her go?”

Python snorted and shook his head. “She isn’t going far.”

Cotton snickered.

Cobra gave him a glare, but a shadow of a smile showed on his lips as well.