Chapter 21
Colt
I sat there on my couch, staring at the fucking wall waiting for her. Two hours. Two fucking hours. What the hell was I going to do with two fucking hours of my life? I thought she’d be over here in a heartbeat wanting to talk. Especially with how pertinent the information was I had for her. Shit. Was it possible she was already discovering the answers for herself?
If she didn’t have any use for me, was I headed back to jail?
My phone rang out in my pocket and I slipped it out, taking the call without even looking at the phone.
“Yep?” I asked.
“Hey. It’s Duke.”
“Look, I really don’t want to—.”
“We need to talk about Dean at some point in time,” he said.
I sighed and closed my eyes.
“I got a couple of hours before I’m meeting to try and patch shit up with this DEA agent. You wanna do this over the phone, or in person?” I asked.
And he answered my question with a knock on my door.
Shaking my head, I hung up the phone and pulled myself from the couch. I walked over and opened the door, finding Duke standing there on my fucking porch. He slid his phone into his jean pocket and walked past me, not even bothering to be invited in.
“Sure. Yeah. You can come in,” I said.
“Look, I know we aren’t on the best of terms right now, but Dean’s out of control,” Duke said.
“Yeah. I know that. He’s been making some pretty knee-jerk decisions that have gotten us into a lot of trouble. Myself, included.”
“Which is why you’re the only person I’m comfortable with talking about this right now. I don’t know how all of the other guys would feel once I threw down the word ‘mutiny.’”
I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t know how I feel about you throwing down that word.”
“I don’t mean a literal one. I just mean… what if there’s a possibility Dean is no longer fit to serve as President?” he asked.
“Then, Jace would step up and take his place. He is V.P., after all.”
“What if Jace doesn’t want it?”
I cocked my head. “What do you mean, if Jace doesn’t want it?”
“You remember when he was elected to be V.P. He made a massive stink over it because he didn’t want the responsibility of becoming President if something happened with Dean. The man’s got leadership skills, but he doesn’t want the leadership. What if that hasn’t changed? And besides he has Leti to focus on.”
“Then, the group would take a vote. You know this. We’d put a motion on the floor during church, and a new President would be voted on. If we could get a unanimous vote for having Dean step down,” I said.
“I think that needs to happen.”
“Well, cool. Great. Just fabulous. Jace has a pregnant former drug runner at home. Maverick is fucking around with a former undercover agent for the cartel while her family sits in a safehouse. You’ve got a damn kid with my sister while playing house only fuck-knows-where, I’m entangled with a DEA agent, and we’ve got the cartel breathing down our necks. Why not overthrow our fucking President!?”
“Because you know damn good and well half of those scenarios could have been avoided if Dean would have thought his actions through and taken more time,” he said.
And I had to admit, he was right. If we had planned the assault on Gabby’s home better, her family wouldn’t need a safehouse because her father would have been in custody. He wouldn’t have gotten away. The DEA wouldn’t be breathing down our necks if he hadn’t had such a bullshit reaction that led to the “plan” for the shootout. Hell, even things with Leti would have gone smoother had Dean been in a proper frame of mind.
“That shootout almost got Maverick killed,” Duke said.
“Yeah. I know,” I spat.
“I know you’ve got a lot on your plate right now, and I know we aren’t on the best of terms. But, if I start slowly talking to the guys to see how they feel about Dean without revealing how we feel about him, would you be onboard for something like that?” he asked.
“Something like what? A change of command?”
“Yeah. Something like that.”
I stared Duke down before I drew in a deep breath.
“Don’t you dare mention the ‘M’ word. And don’t you dare let Dean get a whiff of what you’re doing. Just ask them how they feel about Dean. How they feel about his actions as of late. Nothing else,” I said.
“You got it. Just wanted to make sure you were onboard,” he said.
I gave him one last hard look before he turned to leave. His hand reached the doorknob and he stopped.
“Eden and Sierra keep asking about you.”
I felt my heart sink down to my stomach. Since I had been out of jail, I hadn’t contacted her at all. At first it was because I didn’t know what to say to them. Now I was too scared to bring them any closer to me with Olivia wanting to get as much information as possible. The last thing I wanted was for them to somehow get roped even deeper into the situation than they already were.
“Tell them that I am fine, and that I will contact them once all this mess is over.” Duke nodded and quickly left.
And as the minutes ticked by, all that consumed me was our conversation. Was our club really coming to that? Were we really going to debate overthrowing our current President? Possibly bypassing our V.P. to elect someone else? This was why votes were so important. This was why I wasn’t for Jace being elected as V.P. The V.P. had to be stepping up if the time ever called for it. And Jace was fully against it. Then again, I was the only one unwilling to vote him in. But in all honesty, no one else really wanted to take on the responsibility.
Fucking hell, how did shit get so messed up?
It felt like that last hour passed quicker than I figured. Because before I knew it, there was a knock at my door. A soft, delicate knock that I almost didn’t hear. I strode for the door and ripped it open, gazing down at Olivia as she stood on my porch. She barreled into my house without a second thought, pushing me aside and making her way straight for the living room.
She stood in the middle of it before she turned around, and at first, she wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“Olivia,” I said.
“Colt,” she said curtly.
I drew in a deep breath to keep my anger at her tone of voice in check. Both of us were angry. This was going to be an awkward conversation. But, I had to fix this so the DEA didn’t come down hard on the club. I had to fix this so we had one less fucking bullshit situation to deal with amidst the chaos we had gotten ourselves into. And the funny thing was, I kind of wanted to fix it. I kind of wanted us to see one another more. She was an enigma. Her ability to read people was astounding. Not to mention, she was a looker. And she understood my lifestyle more than most would. I felt a pull toward her. Something I’d never felt for anyone else in my life.
I shook my head, trying to rid myself of those thoughts. I had to stay focused. I had to stay the course.
I gritted down onto my teeth and watched as Olivia studied my living room. She looked at it as if she hadn’t been in there before, and she took in the lack of pictures on the walls. The lack of decorations I had around the house. Probably drawing all sorts of accurate assumptions about my life up until this point.
But when it was obvious she wasn’t making the first move, I spoke.
“I’m sorry for getting angry before,” I said.
Olivia whipped her head around, gracing me with her stare for the first time since she barged into my home.
“I took your phone call out of context,” I said.
“You did, yes,” she said.
Was that all she was going to say?
“Well, I’m sorry for doing that,” I said.
“What you have to understand is that when my boss calls, it’s usually to put pressure on me. You’re the only tie I’ve got to the cartel. You and your club. And he was pissed off when I told him about what I did to get you out of that holding cell,” she said.
“You didn’t get permission for that?”
“I didn’t need it. That still didn’t make him happy, though. I told him what I did to get him off my back. To get him to calm down long enough so I could go forward with the actual plan of using you—just you—as my contact,” she said.
“So, you had no plans to get to my club through me.”
“No. Not unless you got them onboard. I know how clubs work. I respect the way they work. And I know the only way to make it work in my favor is to garner theirs. Yes, your entire club could be of service. But, I know how important trust-building is. Had you given me a chance to explain, the answer would have been simple. I told my boss what I did to get his hot-head to cool down long enough for me to prove to him that I made the right move in trusting you all along.”
Her words hit me like a punch to my jaw.
“You trust me,” I said.
“Not right now, no. But, I’m getting there,” Olivia said.
I turned her words over in my head before I took a step closer to her.
“What is it you’re looking for, exactly? With the information I have to give you?” I asked.
“For starters, all you know. But for right now? I’ll settle for anything I can legitimately use to pin down Diego.”
I stopped walking toward her.
“How do you know that name?” I asked.
“He’s the major player you were after. The one your club scheduled the shootout for. Right?” Olivia asked.
I simple head nod gave her all she needed to know.
“The police have a bit of information on him. I read in his file that the scene of the shootout is one of his regular hideaways. Rumor in the DEA is that he’s one of the major drug lords in the Redding area,” she said.
“That’s the intel we’ve got, too,” I said.
“You guys scheduled the shootout, didn’t you? That wasn’t a spontaneous thing, was it?”
I stayed silent at her question.
“Come on, Colt. I can’t help you if you don’t help me. I’m not throwing you into jail for anything you tell me. But, you do have to be honest with me,” she said.
I paused for a second before I nodded my head.
“I need something on Diego to pin down on his head. Something to prove everything we already know he’s doing. I’ve got theories galore, but none of them will stick in court. That’s my main play right now. Arresting Diego and cutting off the Roja Diablos’ main drug lord in the area. Choking them off at the throat, so to speak,” she said.
“I think there might be a way to do that,” I said.
“Then, I’m all ears, Colt.”
“There’s a meeting going down. At least, a rumored meeting. It’s between Diego and the head of a local gang called the Blood Thugs.”
“The what?” she asked.
I chuckled. “You heard me right. According to some things I’ve heard—.”
“You mean, according to the intel the Dead Souls are feeding you?”
I narrowed my eyes at her as a small grin slid across her face.
“They’re being kept out of it. Part of this is me piecing things together just to piss you off,” she said, grinning.
I snickered at her and shook my head.
“Anyway, according to the intelligence my club has, that meeting is going down in order to discuss possible supply chains. Rumor has it that Diego wants to use the Blood Thugs to infiltrate a part of Redding that is notorious for their consumption of drugs,” I said.
“Sounds like they’re running low on cash,” Olivia said.
“That’s one theory. Another is that a fast distribution and consumption rate means faster reviews on the street. Which steers more customers to them at a rapid rate.”
Olivia nodded her head, like she was impressed.
“Fair enough. Any way to get me near that meeting?” she asked.
“Under one condition.”
She took a step toward me and I could feel her body heat.
“What’s that, Colt?” she asked.
I took a step to her, closing the distance as my name rolled off the tip of her tongue.
“I want the club and the gang left out of it. I don’t want any of our names on any official documents, period,” I said.
“You and the members of the Thugs of Bloods.”
I grinned. “You almost got that right.”
Olivia shrugged as our bodies gravitated even closer. I felt my hands mindlessly slip to her hips. Her eyes fluttered up to mine, gracing me with their dazzling green color as her hands slowly slid up my torso. Fingered the rings of my abs. Gripped the leather of my opened cut as her leg pressed between mine.
“I promise that if you get me what I need to arrest Diego, we’ll be so focused on him and the rest of his cartel that the club and the gang won’t matter,” she said.
I slipped my hand up her side, not stopping until I cupped her cheek. I smoothed my hand along her skin, watching a healthy flush rise upon her face.
“A kiss to seal the deal?” I asked.
Her eyes fell to my lips before a grin crossed hers.
“I think I wouldn’t mind that,” Olivia whispered.
But by the time I was done with her? Whispering would be the last thing she was doing.