CHAPTER TEN
Marcel’s no coward. As soon as my brother crashed his way into my apartment, Marcel explained what went down with Uncle Chuck.
Well, respecting my need for privacy, he gave my brother an edited version of what led to the impromptu eviction.
“Whatever, dude, it’s cool. I didn’t want to be there anyway.”
“We can take my truck over tomorrow morning and get whatever else you need. I’ll rent you a storage unit or something until you find a new place.”
Carter doesn’t argue. He seems too shocked.
“This is my fault, Carter. I’ll fix it,” Marcel promises.
It takes my brother a few minutes to come up with a simple, “Thanks.”
Later that night, my tiny apartment’s feeling more cramped than usual as I settle down and try to sleep.
Marcel pulls me into his arms, the hard length of him pressing into my back. “You smell so good,” he says, nuzzling my neck.
“My brother’s like five feet away.”
“I think he knows we fuck.”
I jab my elbow in his ribs. “Not funny.”
He chuckles, jostling my body. “Can you be quiet for once?” he asks, lifting my T-shirt and grazing my hip with his rough fingers. “Hmm?”
“Guys,” Carter calls out. “Just so you know. I can hear like every word you’re saying. Teller, if you could not violate my sister tonight, that would be awesome.”
I can’t help bursting into giggles. Marcel rolls to his back, also laughing. “We need to stay at the clubhouse.”
“That works for me,” Carter yells.
“Shut up and go to sleep,” I shout back.
The next morning’s a little less awkward.
“Thanks for controlling yourselves last night,” Carter says when he sees Marcel.
Marcel glares at him and scrubs his hands over his face before accepting a cup of coffee from me. He leans in and presses a kiss to my cheek, then joins my brother at the table.
“Sleep okay?” he asks Carter.
“Once I was sure you weren’t going to maul each other, I slept like a baby.”
“Christ,” Teller mutters. “This is what I get for giving my sister such a hard time.”
I laugh and pat his shoulder. “From what she’s told me, you have years of big brother karma to work off.”
“By the way.” Carter points his fork at Marcel. “You could put a shirt on at the breakfast table.”
Marcel slaps my brother’s hand away. “Be happy I bothered with pants.”
“Eww.”
Marcel sits back and chuckles, then winks at me.
“Talk about bad karma,” Carter grumbles. “I got shot down by Mercy yesterday, evicted, and now tormented by my sister’s platinum-tongued sex God.”
“Shut up,” I snap.
“Is that what you call me?” Marcel asks, sticking out his tongue and wiggling it at me.
“No. That’s what Mercy calls you,” Carter says.
“Both of you need to stop talking so I can eat my breakfast.” I set a plate in front of Marcel and one on the table for me. As soon as I take my chair, Marcel grabs one of the legs and slides it closer, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.
“Now, why does your friend call me that, Sunshine?” he asks in a low voice.
“What did I tell you about fishing for compliments?”
They finally, mercifully shut up so we can eat in peace.
Checking the time, Marcel nods at Carter. “Hurry up. I want to get over to the house early and start loading up my truck.”
Carter’s fork clatters to the table, bit of scrambled egg flying everywhere. “You’re really going to help me do that?”
“Yeah. Unlike you, I don’t just run my mouth to hear myself talk.”
I spend the rest of the morning helping Carter move the few things he actually wants to keep out of his mother’s house and into a storage unit. The whole time we were at the house, Carter kept checking the road as if he was afraid Merlin would show up any second.
He didn’t.
I get a text from Rock as I’m dropping Carter off at the apartment.
We have a situation.
That’s code for “get your ass to the clubhouse now.”
On my way.
Did Merlin contact Rock and tell him about our little chat? It’d be a bitch move on Merlin’s part, but not exactly surprising.
“You’re not coming in?” Carter asks.
“Can’t. I need to get home.”
The kid almost seems disappointed. “Thanks a lot for helping me. I really appreciate it.”
“Least I could do after getting you kicked out.”
“It’s not your fault our uncle’s an asshole.”
He gives me a quick fist-bump, and I head to the clubhouse.
Murphy meets me in the garage.
“What’s going on?”
“Something went down at Loco’s.”
“Why’s that an emergency for us?” I guess it’s not so unusual for us to help Loco out, but it doesn’t normally require all of us sitting down at the table.
“Rock will explain it. I’ll see you inside.”
Z rides into the parking lot, and I wait for him. “Fun times,” he greets me.
I hold up my hands before he says anything else. “I’m spilling everything today, right after Rock tells us what this is about.”
“Thanks, brother.” He cocks his head and flashes a slight smirk. “So, who’s the little dude staying at her place?”
I shove him sideways. “You asshole.”
He grins even wider. “Ease up, I was fast forwarding through and saw someone that wasn’t you or her. I assume it’s her little brother?”
“That would be Carter.”
Z and I are the last ones to the table, which is unfortunate because Rock’s in a foul mood. Not a good omen considering what I have to share with my brothers today.
He doesn’t wait for everyone to settle down, he just jumps right into the problem.
“Loco called. He got paid a visit by two wanna-be bikers asking a lot of questions about us.” His pissed-off glare lands on me.
“I can shed some light on that.”
Everyone at the table focuses their attention on me, which I gotta say isn’t real comforting at the moment.
I sit up, elbows on the table, clasping my hands in front of me.
Nothing less than the whole story will work here.
“Merlin’s been trying to dig up information on what we’re doing in Ironworks. He seems to still think it’s in play.”
“No shit,” Wrath says.
“Fuck him,” someone else adds.
“Well, when Loco didn’t break, he tried to bug Charlotte’s phone.”
“When exactly was this?” Rock asks.
I swallow hard under the weight of his penetrating stare. “Day after the funeral. She lost her cell phone. Went back to get it and overheard some stuff.”
At this point, the only sound in the room is the air moving in and out of our lungs.
Z raises his hand, taking some of the heat off me. “He brought me in right away.”
Here’s where letting Z know about the bugging will save my skin.
Wrath nods, but Rock doesn’t seem as forgiving. “That so?”
“Yes, Prez.” Z sits up, carefree attitude disappearing. He and Rock go way back and are tight, but in this room, Rock’s the president. Everyone knows their place. “They’re fucking stupid though. Put some two-bit app on her phone. Even if she hadn’t overheard them, she probably would’ve noticed it.”
“They place something less obvious somewhere else?” Wrath asks.
“Not that I could find. I went through the phone thoroughly. Just to be sure, I had her buy a new one. Did a full sweep of her apartment and found nothing else.”
“And?” Rock prompts, knowing there’s more to the story.
“Teller and I placed a few select cameras at her apartment.”
Shit, I feel like an asshole when he says it. Not that my brothers will judge me or care. It only helps my case.
Finally, Rock lightens up and sits back. “She know about them?”
“No.”
One corner of his mouth lifts in a wry, but not unkind way. “Good luck with that.”
“What else?” Wrath asks.
“Well, it’s South of Satan MC who went to visit Loco. Merlin ordered them to go back, this time wearing colors.”
“Fuck me,” Dex mutters.
Z lists the rest of the information Charlotte gave us one by one.
“Aw, Christ. Guess I gotta stop wanting to punch Loco every time I see him,” Rock jokes.
“You think she was telling the truth?” Wrath asks Z, completely ignoring me.
“I do. She was real eager. Concerned with giving us everything. Didn’t try asking questions about what she heard, just told us straight.”
Murphy raises his hand. “From what I know about Charlotte, I believe her too.”
“Big surprise,” Bricks mutters.
“Knock it off,” Z says. “I don’t think I need to break this down for you like you’re a five-year-old. SOS patching over to the Wolf Knights is a huge problem for us.”
Wrath seems to be deep in thought, drumming his fingers on the table. “Whisper’s never gonna go for that. He’s been talking about wanting to move his club in a less risky direction.”
“Whisper went toe-to-toe with him, from what Charlotte overheard.”
“That’s not good either,” Rock says, echoing the concerns Z laid out the other day. He pulls out a burner phone and sets it on the table. “Christ, I guess I need to warn Loco he might be getting another visit.”
As Rock says it, his phone blows up.
“Yeah?” Rock answers.
“Rock!” Loco’s voice comes through the speaker phone loud and clear and crazy as ever. “I bagged some big game for you today. Need you and a few of your boys to swing by and take a look.”
While I know Loco’s always paranoid about our phones being tapped by law enforcement, his “code” sounds ridiculous and isn’t that hard to crack.
“Was just about to call you. We’ll be there in an hour.”
Rock hangs up and shoots a glare my way. “You’ll be joining us.” He points in the direction of the garage. “Take the van in case we’re bringing bodies back with us.”
“Got it,” I answer, not about to argue with Rock over anything at the moment.
“You gonna call their prez?” Wrath asks.
“What would you like me to do, look him up in the Outlaw yellow pages?” Rock shoots back. “Let’s go see what we’re dealing with first, then I’ll decide how to handle it.”
He runs down a short list of who he wants headed to Ironworks and gives instructions to everyone staying behind.
“Move,” he orders.
“Prez, I’m gonna ride with Teller if that’s okay,” Murphy asks.
“No. I’m riding with him.” He gives me a hard look. “I need more information out of him.”
Super.
Murphy’s not about to argue with Rock, so he heads into the garage with the rest of the guys.
Wrath and Z ride ahead of us, while Murphy and Dex take up the back.
Rock keeps me in suspense while I navigate to the main highway.
“There’s more to your story, isn’t there?” Rock finally asks.
“Yes.”
“We’ll deal with this first, and then we’re going back to the table. Today.”
“Okay.”
“You stick with me when we get to Loco’s.”
Loco meets us on the sidewalk out front. “Damn, forgot when all your boys are ridin’ the whole neighborhood hears you coming.” He holds out his hand and Rock takes it, pulling him in for a quick bro-hug. Something that seems to throw Loco off and make him happy at the same time.
“Thanks for calling.”
“Who else am I supposed to call when a couple bikers try to rough up my girls?”
“Good point.”
He leads us inside through a door under the front stairs.
“Never used this entrance before,” Z cracks.
Loco turns and warns Wrath to watch his head. “Supposed to be a basement apartment, but I’ve found other uses for it,” Loco explains.
I can only imagine what those other uses might be.
Inside it’s dark and the faint stench of mildew clings to the air.
Behind us, there’s a thunk and a string of curses from Wrath.
“Told you to watch your head,” Loco says without a trace of humor.
Malik’s perched on a small metal folding chair outside a closed door. He stands as soon as he sees us.
“How’re our guests?” Loco asks.
“Quiet since our talk.” Malik’s gaze sweeps over us and he nods at Z and Dex.
“This fucker moved like lightning,” Loco says, demonstrating some crazy move while Malik shakes his head. “Lucky you were here to take them down.”
Rock turns and jerks his head at Z, Murphy, and Dex, indicating they should stay outside. Wrath and I follow him inside with Malik and Loco at our backs.
The two SOS members I met at the Wolf Knight’s picnic are sitting on the concrete floor back to back, bound and gagged.
“I know it’s not very original,” Loco says almost as an apology. “I went for easy over artistic.”
None of us bother to decode that.
“Oh!” Loco says, running out of the room.
Rock raises an eyebrow and Malik shrugs. “It’s easier not to ask questions.”
Loco returns with two South of Satan leather cuts.
“Well,” Rock says, drawing the word out for maximum humiliation. “What kind of biker lets some gangster jerk his colors? You two even put up a fight?”
The fact that they’re both still breathing tells me all I need to know about their dedication to their club. Only way someone takes my colors is over my dead body.
“I’ll leave you boys be,” Loco says. “Let me know when you’re done so I can hose down the floor.”
The younger kid, Sticks, if I remember correctly, starts squirming, trying to break free.
Rock tilts his head, indicating he wants me to move in and help with the persuasion part of the interrogation.
“All right. Here’s what we know,” Rock says. “You’re working with the Wolf Knights to move into our territory.”
Sticks drops his gaze and shakes his head.
“Don’t fucking lie or this is gonna be an uncomfortable afternoon for you.”
I crouch down and take their gags off. “Sticks, right?”
He nods while keeping his eyes trained on Rock.
“Who’s your buddy?”
“Thumbs.”
“Shut up,” the other one hisses.
“Here’s how this is gonna go,” Rock says. “First one who tells me what I want to know, avoids getting a beat down from Teller.”
Rock’s a man of his word. First one to squeal will probably get hammered by Wrath or Rock.
“Yeah, you’ll just have that one do it.” Thumbs sneers and jerks his chin at Wrath.
“Now you’re taking the fun out of it,” Wrath says.
“How long you been a member, Sticks?” Rock asks.
He eyes Wrath wearily before answering. “Got patched-in this year.”
“Their vetting process obviously needs improvements,” Wrath mutters.
“This patch-over to the Wolf Knights. That something your whole club’s voted on? Or is it just you two geniuses?”
Neither of them answer.
Rock nods at me and since Thumbs rubbed me the wrong way the second he opened his mouth, I slam my fist into his face.
His head snaps back, hitting Sticks. Blood trickles from his nose and he glares at me. “That the best you got?”
“Just warming up.”
“My dad’s planning to challenge our president in the next election!” Sticks shouts.
“Well, that explains how you got patched-in,” Wrath says. “Daddy bought your way into the club?”
Thumbs starts laughing.
My boot lands on his leg. “What’s so funny, jackass?”
“Guess he’s not as dumb as he looks. Got it on the first try. Sticks ain’t never been club material.”
“Hate to break it to you, Thumbs, but neither are you.”
Rock throws out his arm, keeping Wrath back.
“How many in your club are involved in this plan?”
“My father, uncle, and a couple other older members,” Sticks answers.
“Jesus, selling out your blood and your club in the same breath,” Wrath says. “I’m feeling a lot less concerned about these fools moving into Ironworks.”
Thumbs finally perks up and seems to realize one way or another this isn’t going to end well for him. “If I tell you what you want to know, will you let me go instead of turning me over to my president?” he asks.
“Now you wanna bargain,” Rock says. “How long has this been going on?”
“We were gonna patch over to the Vipers until your club took them out.”
“So you went to the Wolf Knights?”
“Merlin came to us once you froze them out of Ironworks.”
“Just Merlin?”
“He said he hadn’t convinced the rest of the club yet.”
Rock turns to Wrath. “Good to know.”
“Guarantee Whisper was a hold out. He woulda recognized these punks for what they were right away.”
“All right, let’s fill in some details. You been messing with Loco’s business. What else?”
“Dad’s setting up a meth lab on the outskirts of Ironworks. We were trying to work out distribution through the Wolf Knight’s network.”
Wrath snorts. “They don’t have a network. They do business with Stump’s club and us.”
“Maybe the Demons are branching out?” Rock suggests. “We’ll deal with that later.”
Rock gives the signal, and I haul Thumbs to his feet. Because there’s no honor in beating a defenseless man, I untie Thumbs’ hands, then plant my fists in his face and gut.
Since I’m still keyed up from not punching Merlin in his smug face yesterday and not fucking my girlfriend last night, beating the shit out of this little bitch is good tension relief.
He throws a few weak punches that only fire me up more.
Rock pulls me off Thumbs a few minutes later.
“I still need to call his president.”
Thumbs spits at both of us and Rock punches him in the throat, knocking him to the ground.
Wrath pulls a cell phone from Sticks’ pocket and flicks through it. “Who’s your president?”
He groans and sits up. “Trip.”
Wrath opens the door and calls Malik over. “Are you free to drive them out to the Ironworks line and drop ’em off for their prez to pick up?”
“What’s wrong? You don’t want ’em ridin’ bitch with you?”
Wrath rolls his eyes, and it’s probably a good thing we warned him ahead of time about Malik’s cheery personality.
“Didn’t you tell my brother you wanted to prospect for us?”
“Yeah.”
“Then be glad I didn’t ask you to lick my boots before loading them up.”
I lean against the door and cross my arms over my chest. This should be good.
“You need help, Dex can go with you.”
Dex’s startled expression clearly says what now?
“Who the fuck you think carried their asses down here? I don’t need Dexter looking over my shoulder.”
“Great. You’re big, can carry shit, and run your mouth. You want a cookie?” Wrath sneers.
“See,” Loco says, strolling into the room. “Told you they’d get along great. It’s like I got my very own Wrath salt and pepper shakers.”
Wrath answers that absurdity with an angry growl and stalks back into the room.
Z steps up to deal with Loco and Malik, and I return to see what Rock needs.
“Give me your word this ends now,” Rock says into the phone. “We roughed ’em up and we’re keeping their cuts, but our guy’s gonna dump ’em off at the border for you to pick up and deal with however you see fit.”
I raise an eyebrow at Wrath who shrugs.
When Rock finishes, he doesn’t even look at the two guys before walking out to talk to Loco.
“This should be handled. Their prez isn’t too happy with them, but if you notice anything unusual, let me know.”
“You got it. Glad I could help.”
Rock holds out his hand. “Thanks for all your help, Loco. Appreciate that we can always count on you.”
Behind them, Wrath wipes away a fake tear. I roll my eyes at him and he laughs.
Outside on the sidewalk, Rock pulls us in. “We still have business to discuss,” he says, shooting me a look. “No detours. I want everyone back at the table.”
My blood quickens.
In about half an hour, I have to decide how much of my girl’s secret I need to share with my club in order to keep her safe.