Chapter 104 Telling Ryder
Sage's POV
I stood there staring at the gun for what felt like forever, my mind racing through possibilities and explanations and coming up empty every time. Finally, with my hands shaking so badly I could barely hold on to the weapon, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called Ryder.
He answered on the first ring. "Sage? What's wrong?"
"Can you come over? Right now?" My voice came out higher than normal, tight with panic I was trying to control. "I found something and I don't know what to do about it."
"I'm on my way. Are you safe? Is Jaxon there?"
"No, he left for the clubhouse. But I need you to see this before he comes back." I looked down at the gun still wrapped in the bloody shirt. "Please hurry."
"Five minutes. I'm already in the truck."
He hung up and I carefully wrapped the gun back in the shirt, my hands trembling as I touched the stiff fabric. The blood stains felt wrong under my fingers, dried and old and speaking to violence I didn't want to think about. I shoved the shoe box back into the corner of Jaxon's closet, pushed the jackets back into place, and rushed out of his room.
I was pacing in the living room when I heard Ryder's truck pull up outside. I met him at the door before he could even knock, grabbing his hand and pulling him inside.
"What happened? What did you find?" His eyes scanned my face, taking in whatever expression I was wearing that had him immediately on alert.
"Come upstairs. I need to show you." I led him up to Jaxon's room, feeling guilty all over again about bringing someone else into my brother's private space. But Ryder needed to see this. I needed him to tell me what it meant, because I couldn't make sense of it on my own.
We went to the closet and I pushed aside the jackets, pulling out the shoe box again. This time when I unwrapped it, I did it more carefully, laying the shirt flat so Ryder could see the blood stains clearly. The gun sat in the middle of the fabric, dark and cold.
Ryder stared at it for a long moment without saying anything. Then he crouched down to look closer, not touching it but examining it from different angles.
"Do you recognize it?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
"It's a nine millimeter. Pretty common gun, a lot of people in the club carry them." He straightened up and looked at me. "Where exactly did you find this?"
"You just watched me bring it out. At the back corner of the closet, hidden behind jackets Jaxon never wears." I wrapped my arms around myself. "Why would he hide a bloody shirt and a gun like this? Why not just get rid of them or at least wash the shirt?"
"Good question." Ryder pulled out his phone and took a few pictures of the gun and the shirt from different angles. "When did you find this?"
"About twenty minutes ago. I was searching his room trying to figure out why he's so determined to push me toward Diego, and I found this instead." I looked at the gun again and felt my stomach turn. "What do you think it means?"
"I think it means your brother has been involved in something he doesn't want anyone to know about." Ryder wrapped the gun back up in the shirt carefully. "The question is what, and whether it has anything to do with why he wants you married to Diego."
"Should we confront him? Just ask him straight out what this is and why he has it hidden?" The thought of confronting Jaxon made my chest tight with anxiety, but I couldn't just pretend I hadn't found this.