ASHES & PAIN
Chapter 7
SHOTS
Kait was halfway through unloading a case of beer when someone behind her started arguing.
“Don’t let the food touch. Use the compartments. They will flip the fuck out,” Diablo said.
“What’s the big deal?” a prospect say.
“Unless you served, you wouldn’t get it. But trust me.”
The First Baptist Church of Dryden lot was already full. Trucks parked crookedFolding tables were set up uneven across the gravel, trays of food coming out faster than they could keep up with.
A prospect pushed past her with a leaking bag of ice, water running down his arm. He didn’t slow down.
Nobody did.
Kriket was talking to a hangaround somewhere off to the side. Click and Cloud hovered near the coolers, shifting things around like it helped. Kode walking around with Dafne already with a drink in his hand.
Kolton stepped in beside her, already reaching for the next case.
“Your wound, babe. Let me grab that for you.”
“I got it,” Kait said, not looking up.
He let it go, stayed there anyway.
They both looked out toward the far end of the lot without saying anything for a second.
The kids’ table was set off to the side, a little uneven like everything else. Paper plates, juice boxes, a couple of the older ones trying to act like they weren’t watching the adults.
Kyle sat near the end, legs stretched out too far under the table, talking with his hands like he always did.
Kait’s eyes stayed on him a second longer than the rest.
“He’s getting so big,” she said.
Kolton followed her line of sight.
“He is,” he said, like it was obvious.
Then his arm came around her shoulders, easy, familiar.
“He’s always asking about you.”
Kait didn’t move.
Didn’t lean into it either.
Kolton’s thumb brushed back and forth against her shoulder without thinking about it.
“If you’re coming over. When we can go to the movies…”
She didn’t answer that.
A couple of the kids laughed at something down the table. Kyle leaned forward, elbows on the plastic, talking over someone else like he needed to be heard.
Kolton watched him for a second, then looked back at her.
“He likes having you around,” he said. “And you know how much I—”
He stepped in front of her, hand settling at her waist like he was entitled to.
Kait finally looked up at him.
“Kolt…”
Kolton held her there anyway, like he was entitled to.
“We gotta—”
Kait stepped back releasing herself gently.
Kolton only smirked and snuck a quick kiss.
“Come help me check the trays,” she said dragging him by the hand.
“Buster,” Click called out from near the coolers. “Hey—”
Buster didn’t look up right away. He was digging through a box, moving things around like he knew exactly what he was looking for.
“What.”
Click hesitated, glancing once at Cloud like he wasn’t sure how to ask without sounding stupid.
“You got any pointers or anything?” he said. “Like—starting out.”
Buster snorted under his breath and finally straightened up, red Solo cup in one hand.
“Yeah,” he said. “Don’t stand around asking stupid questions.”
Cloud laughed. Click didn’t.
Buster took a drink.
“No, for real. Watch and listen,” he added, nodding toward the lot. “You’ll figure out the rest. And don’t be an asshole.”
Click nodded, taking that in like it meant more than it did.
Buster grabbed a bottle off the table and twisted the cap loose with his teeth.
“That’s it?” Click asked.
Buster shrugged.
“That’s it.”
“Hey—” Kolton reached for her, catching her wrist just enough to stop her for a second. “Hold on.”
Kait paused, not pulling away yet, but not turning back either.
“Just—give me a second,” he said. “I’m not… I’m not trying to start anything.”
That got her to look at him.
Brief.
Measured.
Kolton let go of her wrist but stayed in front of her.
“I mean it,” he said. “Things have been… better. With you.”
Kait didn’t answer.
Her expression didn’t change, but something in it cooled.
He pushed anyway.
“I’m good right now,” he said. “I’m clear. I’m handling shit the way I’m supposed to.”
A couple voices carried behind them. Someone laughed too loud. A cooler slammed shut.
Kolton shook his head slightly, like he was trying to get it out right before he lost it.
“I can handle this,” he said. “I’m gonna put in for VP.”
Kait shifted her weight.
“That’s great,” she said.
It didn’t land the way he wanted.
He stepped closer again.
“I’m serious,” he said. “This. Us… it’s not like before.”
Kait’s eyes flicked past him, already looking for an exit.
Kolton saw it and rushed the rest.
“Why don’t we just—” he stopped, reset, tried again. “Why don’t we just make it what it is.”
Kait’s gaze came back to him.
“And what… is …that?”
Flat.
No help in it.
Kolton stepped closer.
“Something more serious, we don’t have to keep doing this halfway.”
Kait’s eyes moved past him.
Not subtle.
Something caught her attention near the edge of the lot.
A shape that didn’t fit.
Movement that didn’t belong.
Kolton kept going, not seeing it.
“Maybe it’s time to take the next step. You know I love you and—”
The sound hit first.
Sharp.
Too fast to place.
Kait’s head snapped toward the direction of the sound.
Then the second burst tore through the lot.
Kait was already moving.
Her hand went under her kutte and came back out with her gun in one clean motion, eyes locked past Kolton.
That was all it took.
Kolton turned, reaching at the same time, pulling his own piece as the third burst cracked through the lot.
People dropped.
Panic. Chaos.
People running toward the back of the church.
Tables flipped. Bodies hit the ground. Someone shouted directions that didn’t need to be heard twice.
Kait stepped into it, heading toward the edge of the lot where the movement had come from, firing once, then again, controlled, steady.
Kolton moved with her, offset, scanning wider, tracking for a second angle.
“The kids!” someone yelled.
A prospect was already moving toward the tables, grabbing one of the younger ones and dragging him low behind a truck. Another followed, pulling two more down with him.
“Inside! Inside!” a Shepherd barked, pushing people toward the hall.
More shots cracked back out from their side now.
Return fire.
Short. Measured.
A truck tore past the edge of the lot, too fast, too close, engine screaming as it cut through the road and disappeared.
Kait tracked it for half a second longer, then shifted.
No second pass.
No lingering targets.
Kait and Kolton pushed through the bodies, through the noise, through the smell of smoke and dust and something sharper underneath it.
Kyle was on the ground near the table, Loraine already over him.
Kolton dropped beside him.
“You guys okay?” he said, hands already checking, fast, rough.
Kyle shook his head, wide-eyed but there.
“Yeah.”
Kolton exhaled once, hard, then looked up.
Across the lot, Click and Cloud were down on one knee beside Buster.
Not moving.
Cloud had both hands pressed into Buster’s side, blood already soaking through his fingers. Click was saying something, over and over, like it was going to change anything.
Kait saw it.
Didn’t stop.
Didn’t go to them.
Don’s voice cut through everything.
“Lock it down!”
He was already moving, scanning, counting.
“Inside, now! Get them inside!”
Halo was on the other side of the lot, mirroring it, pointing, directing his own.
“Two with me!” Halo snapped. “Rest of you, hold!”
A couple bikes were already being turned, engines kicking over fast.
Kolton pushed up to his feet, one hand still on Kyle’s shoulder.
“Stay with grandma,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
Kyle nodded, still shaking as Loraine held him tight.
Kolton went back to Kait’s side and covered her.
“You okay, baby?”
“Yeah, you?”
“All good.”
Don spotted them.
“You two,” he said, pointing. “Go.”
Kait didn’t hesitate.
Then Diablo and Blaze joined them.
“Don’t come back here,” Don added, voice low but sharp enough to cut through everything. “Go straight to the Nest.”
Kait gave a single nod.
That was it.
They were already on their bikes.
Engines roared to life, gravel kicking out behind them as they tore off after the direction the truck had taken.
Behind them, the lot tightened.
People moving in.
Voices dropping.
Sirens, distant but coming.
Gravel tore loose behind them as five bikes shot out onto the road.
Kait in front.
Diablo and Blaze tight behind her.
Two Crossaiders locked in after them, engines climbing hard as they pushed to close the gap.
Up ahead—
the truck.
A dark shape cutting through the road, taillights bouncing over uneven pavement.
Kait dropped lower over the tank and opened it up.
The first shot came from the truck.
A crack that cut past them, close enough to feel.
Blaze fired back, one hand off the bars.
Kait kept closing.
Another burst from the truck. Dirt kicked up. Space opened.
Diablo fired low.
A spark jumped off the rear panel.
The truck fishtailed through a turn, tires biting into dirt as it cut off the main road.
Kait leaned with it, holding her line.
Gravel sprayed back hard.
They pushed through it.
For a second—
they were on it.
Close enough.
Kait lifted the gun—
Another shot cracked out.
Closer.
The truck straightened and surged forward, engine screaming as it hit open road.
Distance opened fast.
The others eased off.
Kait held it a second longer.
Then let it go.
They turned back together.
Four bikes cutting through empty road.
THE NEST
The place felt wrong the second they rolled in.
Too still.
They headed to the clubhouse right away.
Blaze grabbed a bottle on the way in, Kait right behind him, Diablo already twisting a cap loose before they even crossed the room.
No one stopped.
They cut through the courtyard, gravel crunching under their boots, the open space amplifying everything that wasn’t being said.
Kait took a pull without tasting it.
“Truck was clean,” Diablo said, voice low, controlled. “No plates.”
Blaze nodded once.
“This was not random,” he said. “They fucking knew about it,”
Kait didn’t answer.
They hit the stairs, moving up fast, boots heavy against metal.
“Talamantes, no doubt,” Diablo added.
Blaze exhaled through his nose.
“Feels like it.”
Kait reached the top first, pushing the chapel door open and stepping inside without breaking stride.
“But how the fuck did they know?” Kait said.
Kolton dropped into a chair, bottle still in his hand.
“Crossaiders got some enemies too though,” he muttered. “They’ve help put a lot motherfuckers away.”
Diablo stayed standing.
“I think it was for us.”
“Yeah,” Kait said.
They all knew it.
Kait stayed on her feet, pacing once, then stopping near the table, eyes not settling on anything.
“Fuck, man. Buster,” Blaze said after a second. “He got hit.”
Kait’s jaw tightened slightly.
“He’s fine, He’ll be fine,” she said.
It wasn’t conviction.
It was placement.
Something to set down so nothing else filled the space.
The door opened behind them.
Boots.
More than one.
Kait turned first.
Don stepped in, Ram and Kode behind him, sat on their spots and didn’t say a word.
“Goddamn it,” said Randy also taking his spot.
The room shifted immediately.
Not louder.
Heavier.
Don’s eyes moved across them, quick, counting, reading.
Landing on Kait last.
No one spoke.
Didn’t need to.
Don didn’t drag it out.
“We lost Buster.”
Flat.
Final.
Kait stared at him.
Waiting.
Like there was supposed to be something after that.
There wasn’t.
“No,” she said.
Quiet.
Not sharp.
Just… wrong.
Blaze looked down and removed his hat.
Diablo closed his eyes.
Kait shook her head once, small, like she could reset it.
“He was—,” she said. “When we left, he was—”
“Babe,” Kolton said, already moving toward her.
Kait let out a short breath, almost a laugh, but there was nothing in it.
“That doesn’t—” she started, then stopped.
Her hand came up to the table, pressing flat against it.
Kolton’s arm came around her.
Kait shifted out of it.
She was already moving.
“Where you going, baby?”
“I need some air,” she said, pushing the door open.
Don’s eyes followed her.
Then shifted to Kolton.
“Stay with her.”
The courtyard hit colder than before.
Quieter.
Kait didn’t slow down.
She crossed it straight through, boots cutting hard over the gravel, heading for the bikes.
Kolton came out behind her.
“Kait—”
She didn’t stop.
Didn’t turn.
Helmet off the seat. Keys already in her hand.
Kolton caught up just as she swung a leg over.
“Hey,” he said, closer now. “Talk to me.”
Kait shook her head once, sharp.
“I need to be alone.”
She fired the bike up.
The engine filled the space between them.
Kolton stepped in closer anyway, trying to catch her eye.
“Where you going?”
Kait didn’t answer.
Didn’t look at him.
She pulled out.
Gravel kicked back as she cleared the yard and hit the road without slowing.
Kolton stood there a second longer, watching the empty space she left behind.
HUNTSVILLE
Lane worked the cloth over the surface of the table in slow, even passes.
New wood.
Still clean.
Didn’t belong there yet.
The shop light overhead buzzed faintly. Everything else was quiet.
His phone went off on the bench behind him.
He didn’t reach for it right away.
Finished the pass he was on.
Turned the cloth once in his hand.
Then he set it down and picked up the phone.
“Yeah.”
Noise on the other end.
Wind. Movement. Not still.
“Hey, Kount.”
Lane frowned.
“Everything cool, Kowboy?”
“Nah. We got hit. At Vets Table,” Blaze said
Lane’s hand stilled against the edge of the table.
“Fuck.”
“They came in hot, fired into the lot, then pushed through.”
Lane’s eyes shifted, focus narrowing slightly.
“How bad. Anyone got hit?”
Blaze didn’t answer right away.
When he did, it was flatter.
“A few people and Buster.”
Lane’s eyes dropped to the table.
Blaze stopped.
Didn’t dress it up.
“He didn’t make it.”
Silence.
Not long.
But enough.
Lane’s fingers pressed lightly into the wood.
Then released.
“Goddamn it.”
Lane looked out past the table, toward the unfinished space around him.
Empty.
“This had to be Talamantes,” he said.
Blaze stayed on the line a second longer.
“We’re pretty sure it was.”
“Everyone else whole?”
“Yeah.”
Lane nodded.
“Don wants the service done after Christmas. We’re figuring that out right now.”
“We’ll be there.”
“Alright, man. We’ll keep you posted.”
“I’ll call Don later. Let us know if you need anything from us.”
“Thanks, man.”
The line clicked.
Lane lowered the phone.
Set it back on the bench.
He stood there for a moment, looking at the table.
Then he picked the cloth back up.
Ran it across the surface again.
Same motion.
Same pressure.
a few days later
Christmas came and went.
No one marked it.
The Toy Ride never happened.
Boxes stayed stacked where they’d been left. Half-filled. Unsorted.
No one touched them. No one even remember they were there.
The morning of the funeral came quiet.
Engines started early.
They rolled in from everywhere.
One by one at first. Then in groups.
Patches from other charters. Familiar faces. Some she barely met on Krait Day. She saw Koa and Trace and Konway, Lane’s VP.
That means Lane sent him in his stead.
Didn’t matter.
They came.
Bikes lined the perimeter of the Nest, filling the yard, spilling past it, engines cutting until the place settled into something heavy and still.
No one talked loud.
No one joked.
The courtyard was already set.
Chairs pulled in tight rows. Simple. Functional.
The table at the front.
Buster’s kutte laid over it.
Boots beneath.
That was enough.
Lane didn’t go to the Nest first.
He split ways with his men, and rode to get Don, as he requested.
The house sat quiet when he pulled up.
Same as always.
He cut the engine and stepped off, the sound of his boots carrying farther than it should have.
The door was unlocked.
He didn’t knock.
Inside felt unchanged.
Too normal for the day.
“King,” said Lane once he saw no one in the living room
“In the office, son.”
Lane stepped further in, gaze moving without purpose—
and caught on it.
The picture.
Set on the side table like it had always been there.
Kolton.
Kait.
Kyle.
All three of them pulled in close, like something real had been caught in it.
Not posed.
Not forced.
Lane didn’t move.
Didn’t step closer.
But he didn’t look away either.
Something in his chest tightened.
Sharp.
Quick.
Gone just as fast.
He shifted his gaze off it like it hadn’t mattered.
Like it didn’t sit there any longer than anything else in the room.
Don stepped out then, already dressed, already moving.
“Let’s go.”
Lane nodded.
Didn’t look back.
HEDRICK RANCH
Don and Lane rolled in together.
Engines cutting one after the other.
The quiet came back heavier than before.
The grave was already open.
Simple.
No excess.
Lane stepped off his bike and took his place with the rest.
Then he saw them.
Kolton.
Kait.
Standing together.
Closer now.
Kolton’s hand at her shoulder, steady, holding her like that was his place.
Kait didn’t lean into him.
But she didn’t step away either.
Her face was set.
Eyes low.
Present.
Gone at the same time.
Lane watched it.
Longer than he should have.
Something settled in him.
Not sharp or loud. Just… final.
He looked away as soon as she saw him.
Halo stepped forward when everyone settled.
He took a second.
Not to find words.
But for everyone to take in the moment.
When he spoke, his voice carried easy. Measured.
“We’re here for our brother Ethan Maddox, or Buster, as his Krait brothers called him.”
A brief pause.
“We’re here to do this right.”
His eyes moved across the line of men.
“To stand together… and see him through.”
The wind shifted lightly across the ground.
Halo didn’t move.
“Some of you knew him longer than others,” he said. “Some of you didn’t get the time. That doesn’t change what he was to this world.”
His hand lowered slightly toward the ground.
“To this ground… To the men standing here.”
He let that settle.
“We don’t leave our men behind.”
Simple.
Final.
“And we don’t forget what they stood for. Before we lay him down to rest, would anyone like to say some words?”
Don moved in.
No notes.
No hesitation.
He looked at the casket for a second.
Then at the men around it.
“This life don’t wait for you to be ready for shit,” he said.
Voice even.
“It doesn’t care what you think you’ve got left to prove.”
His eyes landed on Kolton.
“You either step in when it matters or you don’t.”
No movement in the crowd.
No one breaking.
“Buster stepped in.”
Don’s gaze held steady.
“Came in thinking he didn’t have much to offer.”
A small shift.
“He thought he had nothing left when he got dropped from the Army.”
He let that sit.
“He was wrong.”
The wind moved lightly across the ground.
“When he became prospect, he just got it. Didn’t wait to be told, didn’t need to be babysat.”
Don glanced once toward the line of men.
“Then he became one hell of a Krait.”
Not louder.
Just heavier.
He looked at the prospects.
“He stood for his brothers, took a bullet for his brothers.”
Don’s eyes dropped once to the box.
“And we’ll remember him forever as a goddamn hero.”
The last of Don’s words settled into the ground.
No one moved right away.
Then it started.
One by one.
Guns came up.
The first shot cracked through the open space.
Then another.
Then all of them.
A volley that rolled across the ranch and out toward the creek, sharp and echoing, tearing through the quiet and leaving it louder when it came back.
Kait didn’t flinch.
Didn’t move.
The sound hit something anyway.
A memory.
Rokkstar’s funeral.
Kait exhaled once, slow.
The guns lowered.
Silence came back heavier than before.
Dirt hit wood again.
Final.
