Gunn

Sly was pissed. I don’t think I’d ever really seen him get mad like this. It was usually Marcus or Angel who threw shit and punched holes in the wall when things got heavy. Dex sat in his usual spot at Sly’s right hand. He kept his cool as always, his fingers steepled beneath his chin as Sly finished his tear. Charlie once told me Dex had been the worst hothead you’d ever wanna meet. But all those years in prison for something he didn’t do had tempered him, made him more cautious. Marrying Ava had mellowed him too.

“We’ve got nothing? No leads? You gotta be fucking kidding me.” Sly had already flipped his chair. He took the news of Toby’s murder harder than the rest of us. I knew they went way back. It was more than just that. Nobody wanted to say it, but Sly was superstitious. Toby’s death coming on the heels of him proposing to Scarlett didn’t bode well.

“It’s not no leads, Sly,” Switch said. “I mean, the guy had the Hawks’ initials carved in his face.”

Sly shook his head. He righted his chair and sat down hard. “I’m not buying it. It’s not their style. It’s too obvious. That’s the kind of shit the Red Brigands do. Not the Hawks.” Sly should know. Scarlett’s brother had been taken out by the Brigands over ten years ago. They’d branded him with their mark and threw him on her front lawn. Sick shit.

“Maybe,” Dex said. “But the Hawks know more than anyone how crucial Toby’s business is to ours. If they’re trying to rattle the cage, you gotta admit, this is the way to do it. Make our other suppliers think we can’t protect our own people. They get antsy and start pulling out, then we got a whole world of problems.”

“I still don’t buy it,” Sly said. “The Hawks don’t have the muscle to come at us head on like that. They’re still rebuilding after Kagan’s days. They’d never survive a war with us right now. Not unless they’ve got help.”

“You think the Brigands are teaming up with them?” I asked. It made a certain degree of sense, at least as an M.O.

Sly sat back hard and dropped his hand to the table top. “Fuck if I know right now. I mean, those two clubs have been at war with each other over the years. Neither of them has super strong leadership at the moment. I just can’t fucking believe they’d have their shit together enough to join forces against us.”

“If they do,” Dex offered, “it won’t last long. They’ll end up eating each other alive.”

“For the time being,” Sly said, “I think we need to operate under the assumption this really is the Hawks trying to stir shit up. If that’s the case, they’re not doing it alone. I need everyone to just watch their shit extra careful for the next little while. Nothing risky. Watch each other’s backs. Anyone hears anything out of the ordinary, you bring it to the table. Understood?”

Sly got agreement and promises all around the table. I hoped to God this was just a one-off kind of thing. Toby had a reputation around town as a player. It was just as likely he fucked the wrong desperate housewife and finally got his comeuppance. The initials might be a coincidence. Or more likely they were some ham-handed attempt by his real killer to make it look like a club problem.

“I’ll keep my contacts at the Green Bluff P.D. close,” Angel said. “Line a few more pockets if need be.”

“Good,” Sly said. “Enough of this dark shit for one day.”

He adjourned Church, but none of us felt very good about it. Toby’s death left a cloud over all of us. I knew Sly was afraid things had been too good for too long. As everyone left to head back into the bar, Sly called out to me.

I went back to my seat at the table. Dex hung back too. He shut the door to the conference room then came back to join us.

“Did you meet with Brenna Rose?” Sly asked.

I was a little surprised he remembered. Part of me wished he hadn’t. I couldn’t quite put my finger on why, but I kind of wanted to keep Brenna to myself. On the other hand, I had a favor to ask about her and I swear it was like my prez could read my damn mind.

“Yeah,” I said. “She didn’t have much info on the IDs she and her friend used. I’m not surprised. If there’s a new player in town, he’s gonna wanna keep a low profile.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Sly said. “So you’re saying she definitely bought the thing local? Not online?”

“I got the impression. Yeah.”

“Stay on this,” Sly said. “It’s probably nothing. I just wanna keep extra tabs on the shit going on in Green Bluff, all things being equal.”

“I’ll do some more digging,” I said. “You don’t mind if I take some time and put some feelers out on campus?”

I tried to keep my tone even. I don’t know how well I succeeded, but the idea of having a reason to run into Brenna again got my juices flowing. It was nuts. She was Brenna. She was Scotty’s little sister and that’s all she could ever be. Except when I put my arms around her the other day, it did something to me. She smelled so fucking good. I couldn’t keep my eyes from roving to the swell of her breasts inside the deep vee of the red blouse she’d worn.

It was more than that. Brenna chose not to tell me, but there was something wrong. Her smiles never quite reached her eyes. It could have been anything. Hell, I’m sure I dredged up memories of Scotty for her just like she did for me. Still, there was something different happening. All I knew is I wanted an excuse to see her again, no matter how bad an idea that was.

“Do that,” Sly said. “Make yourself a presence there this week. Whoever’s out there thinking Harrington’s campus is ripe for the taking needs to remember this is still our town.”

“Not a problem,” I said. There was something else nagging me too. I had to figure out a way to bring it up. It was going to be a big ask and Sly probably wouldn’t like it.

“She’s good though?” Sly asked. “Brenna?”

I swear to God that man could see straight through me. Dex could too. I hadn’t known him as long, of course, but Dex had a way of sizing people up and cutting through their bullshit. I learned pretty quick not to dish any out around him.

“She’s good. She wouldn’t say much about her ma other than to remind me she still thinks we’re all the devil incarnate. I wish I could say I blamed her.”

Sly reached across the table and put a hand on my shoulder. “And I’ve been telling you for seven years that what happened to her son ain’t on you. If anyone, it’s on me. Scotty was a good kid. He had potential. But I never should have sent him out on that run with you. I should have gone myself.”

“You know it wouldn’t have made a difference. It just happened. I don’t blame you. If I take it apart, I know I shouldn’t even blame me. Not really. It was luck. Awful fucking luck.”

“But you still wish it had been you instead of him,” Dex said. “You gotta find a way to put that down, man. You can’t look back. It’ll tear you apart.”

I knew what it meant for Dex McLain to say that. He’d lost thirteen years of his life for nothing. It had cost him his daughter’s childhood. She grew up without him. It had almost cost him Ava. And yet, he could sit across that table and tell me not to regret the past. I felt lucky to know him. Lucky that we wore the same patch. But I knew in my heart I’d always regret those few seconds when Scotty walked into that parking lot ahead of me.

“Listen,” I said. “Brenna didn’t come out and say this, but I got a feeling that maybe her old man is causing some trouble for her again.”

“Tim Rose? That fucker?” Sly asked. “I don’t think even he would be that dumb.”

Sly had made good on his promise to look out for Susan Rose the day we put her son in the ground. He’d put the club lawyer in her corner. That’s how she finally got a restraining order against him. Two nights after the funeral, Sly arranged for a crew to throw Tim’s shit out of Susan’s house. He made me stay away from it, but I knew four members of the club had dragged Tim off a bar stool and beat him within an inch of his life. They kept him conscious long enough to make sure he understood it was his lucky night. If he ever laid a hand on Susan again, we’d kill him.

“He’s isn’t getting physical,” I said. “At least, I hope not. If he had, I would have heard.”

“So would I,” Sly said, confirming something I’d long suspected. He had eyes in Susan’s neighborhood. Word got out that she was under club protection whether she wanted to be or not.

“Look,” I said. “I don’t know the whole story but I think Tim has done something to fuck with Brenna’s tuition. I don’t know how. Scotty’s life insurance policy was supposed to take care of them both. But she took a call while I was talking to her the other day. I heard enough to put two and two together. So ... I’m asking ... do we have connections at the registrar’s office over at Harrington?”

Sly jerked his head back. I don’t know what he thought I had on my mind, but it wasn’t that. “No,” I said. “I’m not talking about any kind of fraud. Just ... keeping a promise. She’s a good kid. She deserves every break that’s in the club’s power to give her. I’m asking for permission to get her out of the hole.”

Sly and Dex exchanged a look. “You got that kind of cash laying around?”

“I don’t know what she owes,” I said. “That’s why I’m hoping we’ve got a connection. But yeah, if she’s short her tuition, I want to cover it. And no, I probably don’t have that kind of cash laying around. Fuck. I don’t even know what a semester over at Harrington even costs.”

“A fuck ton,” Dex said. “Declan’s not even in kindergarten yet and Ava’s already started researching. It’s like fifteen grand a semester over there.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I figured something like that. So, I’m asking if you can cover me about half of that. I’ll be able to make good on it by next quarter. I’ve got four big rebuilds lined up.”

Sly had a smile on his face I didn’t like. “You sure your head’s in the right place on this one?”

I bit the inside of my mouth so hard I drew blood. It was in me to snap at him. What the fuck had gotten into me with this chick? It’s just, I felt a wave of overprotective rage bubbling up where she was concerned. I tried to tell myself it was just about Scotty. Taking care of Brenna is what he’d want me to do.

“Yeah,” I finally answered. “I’m just trying to keep a promise I made a long time ago.”

“Okay,” Sly said. “As long as you’re sure. Yeah. I can put you in touch with a clerk I know over there. Just do me a favor and don’t mention her name around Scarlett. I mean ... she was way before Scarlett’s time, but …”

I laughed. “I get it. I get it. No reason to rock the boat and give the woman a reason to reconsider your marriage proposal. You set a date yet, by the way?”

Sly glowered at me. He knew damn well I was trying to take the heat off of me. “She wants a couple of months to plan everything,” he said. “In the meantime, you go and see Trina Hargrove over at the college. I’ll text you her number.”

“Sheeit,” Dex said. “Her number’s still in your damn phone, Sly?”

Sly slugged his veep in the arm.

“Thanks,” I said, rising. I wanted to get the hell out of this conversation before either Dex or Sly started asking me harder questions about Brenna. And I also had to figure out a way to handle her tuition mess without her knowing it came from me. Something told me she might not take it well.

But fuck me if part of me didn’t want to see what Brenna Rose looked like angry.