“No fuckin’ way, prez. You ain’t shuttin’ me out this time.”
Rock drags his hand through his hair. “I’m not. There’s nothing we can do right this second. We need to plan and organize before we take action. You need to take care of your girl.” He glances at Trinity, who’s curled up in the couch staring at nothing.
“You’re right.”
Rock’s eyes widen. Guess he figured I’d be more stubborn about it. “I promise I’ll come get you as soon as I’ve got something.”
“Okay.”
He smiles and slaps me on the back. “Take care of your girl.”
Trin doesn’t even look up as I approach.
“Come here, angel,” I whisper as I scoop her into my arms.
She clings to me, but remains silent.
I drop her carefully onto the bed and shut the door. She lies there while I strip her down. “Come on. Sit up for me,” I urge so I can slip a nightshirt over her head.
I take off my cut, shirt and shoes and slide into bed with her. Gathering her in my arms, I kiss her forehead.
“Wyatt?”
“I’m here.”
“I love you.”
My heart stops.
She slicks her tongue over her bottom lip. “For a second tonight, I thought I might die, and I was so angry with myself for not saying it to you. Only giving you that stupid note…I’m sorry. Please don’t think the only reason I’m saying it now—”
“Please stop.” I yank my wallet out. Flipping it open, I pull out the note she gave me and hold it out to her. “It’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever given me. Keep it with me so I can look at it whenever I miss you.”
She gasps and cries even harder. “Shhh.” I wrap her in my arms and after tucking her note away, toss my wallet on the night stand. “Come on, let’s get some rest.”
I’ve got a splitting headache when my phone wakes me up. Completely disoriented, I roll over and answer, noticing it’s one in the afternoon.
“What?”
“We got a meet with Ransom’s crew in two hours.”
Scrubbing my hand over my face, I nod, then realize Rock can’t see that over the phone. “Yeah. I’m up. Give me ten.”
“Hope’s downstairs, waiting for Trinity.”
Fuck. I can only imagine how well that conversation went. “Thanks.”
Trin settles her hand on my back. “Wyatt?” She crawls over until she’s sitting on top of me. From the look on her face, sex is the last thing on her mind. “Please don’t do this.”
“What?”
“Go after them. I don’t want to be the cause of another war between—”
Cupping her face between my hands, I stare into those honey eyes I love so much. “You know that’s not how things work, Trinity. They touched what’s mine. They pay.”
“I—we just got things figured out. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Aw, shit. “I promise I’ll be careful. But you know this can’t stand. What if they went after Hope next? You think she’d get away like you did? Or Swan? Or even Heidi?”
Understanding flares in her eyes and she nods. She rolls to the side and sits up next to me.
“Well, with the mouth on her, they’d probably give Heidi back right away,” she jokes.
I’m happy she’s able to laugh, considering how grave the situation is. “That’s my girl.”
Following the noise in the hallway leads us to the dining room. Hoot, Birch and Swan are busy running back and forth taking care of things. Everyone’s here.
As soon as she spots us, Hope runs over and pulls Trinity into a hug. Rock whistles to get everyone’s attention.
“Members and prospects to the war room. Everyone else stays on the property until further notice.”
I have just enough time for Swan to shove a cup of coffee and a sandwich in my hands before I follow everyone down the hall. Z catches up with me. “She okay?”
“Yeah. Better.”
“Good. Real fuckin’ proud of her for gettin’ away like that.”
My mouth quirks up. Me too.
Once we’re seated, Rock remains standing and takes a look at everyone. I spot two members from downstate and give them a nod.
“I know some of you have only gotten bits and pieces, so I want to make sure everyone’s on the same page. Trinity, a long time asset to our club, and Wrath’s ol’ lady, was attacked last night in downtown Ironworks.”
One of the guys from downstate—Steer—raises his hand. Rock cuts him off with a shake of his head. “Our agreement with the Vipers is, associates, family, ol’ ladies are all allowed in their territory as long as they’re not on club business or wearing club colors. Trinity was there for class and no way would she wear colors in their territory. She knows better.”
That seems to answer whatever Steer was planning to ask.
“Trinity managed to knife the guy—” Rock’s interrupted by the room breaking out into applause, shouts and whistles, which makes me chuckle.
“Yeah, we’re all proud of Wrath’s girl,” Rock says with a smirk. It’s probably an inappropriate time to notice, but I really like how Wrath’s girl sounds coming out of my president’s mouth in front of everyone.
“Trin was able to identify the guy as Viper based on what he said to her. I’ve spoken to one of our local allies, and they’re ready to back us.”
I raise my hand quick and Rock nods at me. “We also got an offer of support from the Devil Demons MC.”
“Why ain’t you callin’ either of them in?” Bull—also from downstate—asks.
Now, my answer would be Shut the fuck up or Because I fucking said so, something along those lines.
“Until we know what we’re dealing with, I’d rather keep this in-house. No reason to use a blowtorch if a match works,” Rock explains as if he’s talking to a two-year-old.
That’s why he’s the prez, and I’m not.
“I also needed to let the local guys know to keep a closer eye on their women.”
Bull nods as if that hadn’t occurred to him. As his name suggests, he’s dumb as an ox. That’s why he’s the sergeant-at-arms downstate and not the prez.
“I’ve been in touch with Ransom, the Viper’s current president. At first he denied any knowledge of the attack. Said he didn’t authorize it and assured me there would have been no issue with Trinity being down there for class.”
This is all new information. Seems Rock was busy while I was napping the morning away.
“I got a call back from him a little while ago. They say they tracked the guy down. One of their hang-a-rounds, trying to impress the club. They’re holding him for us so we can verify. Now, I trust a Viper about as far as I can throw one—”
“Which ain’t far, they’re a bunch of fat fucks,” Z blurts out for a little comic relief. Rock shakes his head.
“This could be a trap or they could be sincere. I want to go in heavy enough so they know we’re not fucking around but not so many guys it looks like a threat. I also need to make sure CB has adequate coverage—just in case. And I need guys here at the house.” Rock levels a stern look at each of us. “These are the assignments. Do not question me unless you have a very good reason. And it better be stellar, so think it through before opening your mouth.”
I’m not worried at all. I know exactly where I’m going.
“Wrath, Z, Murphy, Bull, and Ravage—you guys are with me. We’ll take two vehicles. Ravage, Bull, and Murphy will wait outside and stay alert for trouble.”
No one opens their mouth to complain.
“Dex, Steer, and Birch—I want you at Crystal Ball. We open at four. I want you down there checking things over by three o’clock.”
“Teller, Axel, Bricks, Stash, Sparky, and Hoot—I want you at the house. Sparky and Stash, I need you two upstairs and alert.”
“Got it, boss,” Sparky assures him. For once he actually looks sober.
“Bricks, you know the security set up, so I want you on that.”
“You got it.”
Rock addresses the guys staying at the house. “Trin’s got the combination to both gun safes and she’s proficient with just about every weapon we have. Don’t hesitate to have her help out.” Rock sighs and his mouth turns up in a tired smirk. “Hope’s been to the range, but she’s not confident.”
I think Rock’s message is to use Hope as a last resort, which isn’t quite fair. Cinderella’s a good shot—once you load the weapon for her and show her where to point it.
Teller pipes up. “Heidi’s good with a couple different weapons.”
Rock nods. “That’s it. We’re all clear?” Everyone says yes. Rock calls Bull and Steer up to the front of the table. “I think no matter how this goes down, I’d rather have some extra muscle at CB this week, you two up for it?”
They don’t have to think about it. Hanging out in our strip club all week isn’t exactly a hardship for these guys. “Hell, yeah.”
Rock slaps their shoulders. “Thanks.”
Steer heads out with the CB crowd. Ravage joins us.
“Prez, you really want me outside?” Murphy asks.
“Did you miss something?” Rock asks.
Murphy shakes his head. Rock’s feeling more generous than I am, ‘cause I woulda kicked Murphy’s ass for that. Instead he slaps Murphy on the back and pulls him close. “Vipers blow the three of us away, you and Teller will have to fight it out for my seat.”
Murphy finally understands why he’s being asked to wait outside. “Sorry, prez.” He glances at me. “I’d take his job anyway.”
Yeah, I’d like to kick Murphy’s ass on a regular basis—for lots of reasons—but I’d be comfortable with that. Not that it matters if I’m dead.
Z’s jumping around ready to go. “I hope they give us a fuckin’ reason.”
“Hey,” Rock snaps. “Simmer the fuck down. He looks over the five of us. “Everyone suited up?”
Shit. “I gotta run upstairs, Rock.”
He nods at me. “Yeah. Meet us at the front door.”
Trinity intercepts me at the staircase. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I gotta grab something from my room. Come with?”
She follows behind me and watches me get ready. “They think they found the guy.” I press a cell phone into her hand. “Check this later. I may send you a picture.”
“Okay. Was it Viper?”
“Right now they’re saying it was some hang-a-round.”
She seems to think that over. “That makes more sense. Probably thought taking me would help him get his prospect rocker.”
“Yeah, well the fucker better have come up with that on his own.”
My leg’s aching like a bitch on our way downstairs, but I gotta push the pain down and focus.
Rock, Z and I ride together.
Murphy, Bull, and Ravage stay right behind us the entire way. We left our cuts at home. Fuckin’ hate entering Ironworks. “Was that Trinity’s last class?” Z asks from the backseat.
“Yeah.”
“Good timing.”
No shit. No fuckin’ way is she coming near Ironworks again. She needs more art classes, I’ll send her anywhere else she wants to go.
The Viper’s clubhouse looks like a fuckin’ crack den. It’s right on Second Avenue in what’s known as South Ironworks. South of Satan’s toilet is more accurate.
If the eight-foot chain link fence doesn’t scream gangster hideout, the four pit bulls who attack the fence when we get out of our vehicles certainly do. The two houses on either side have blacked-out windows and some strange ventilation choices.
Z catches my eye and subtly tilts his head at the four different video cameras facing the street.
The stench of cat piss permeates the entire area.
We wait on the sidewalk for someone to come get us. It’s a respect thing. Walking up and ringing their doorbell would not be respectful.
“Guess they’ve moved their cooking in-house,” I mutter to Rock.
He nods once.
How they feel comfortable having their operation in plain sight smack in the middle of Ironworks, is beyond me. Ironworks PD must be shadier or lazier than I thought.
Murphy, Bull and Ravage stand behind us but move farther back when Ransom himself comes out to meet us.
He shakes Rock’s hand. “I ain’t even gonna check you for weapons. This is how much I want to make it clear we’re not tryin’ to start trouble.”
“Appreciate it,” Rock answers.
Ransom motions for us to follow. I slip on a pair of leather gloves as I walk behind Rock. Now the inside is surprisingly nice and clean, considering what outside looks like. The usual half-naked chicks are running around. What’s unusual is how many of them look underage.
I know that’s not why we’re here, but it pisses me off anyway.
Ransom gets right down to business and takes us downstairs into their basement. “Murder room” is a better description. It’s been outfitted with epoxy-coated cement and large drainage holes for easy wash downs. Hooks and eye-bolts to house multiple “guests.” The current guest is tied to a chair that’s bolted to the floor.
“Eduardo, say hello to our friends,” Ransom prods the barely breathing prisoner.
“You got a ‘before’ picture, we can send to our girl to I.D. him?” Rock asks. “Don’t know if she’ll recognize him in this condition.”
Ransom grins and pulls something out of his pocket. Next to me, Z tenses up, but otherwise doesn’t move. “Recognize this?” Ransom asks, holding out a bloody knife.
Rock motions for me to take it. I recognize it right away. “Yeah, that’s hers.”
“We took it out of his leg,” Ransom says, pointing to the guy’s bloody pants. He’s got a hole in the upper thigh that fits what Trinity described.
I nod at Rock.
Ransom kicks the chair. “Sit up,” he barks as he pushes the guy forward. “No ink. He ain’t Viper.”
Well, he’s got ink. But not the back piece every patched-in Viper sports. Ransom texts a “before” photo to me and I send it to Trin.
Walking up to the guy, I kick his leg. “You touch my girl?”
“Didn’t know…” he trails off.
“Eduardo, right?” Ransom nods at me. “I know that’s not true. You told her you recognized her from the fight a couple months back.”
He’s got no answer. He does piss himself. Geez. Here I’ve been so calm and mild-mannered.
Trin replies to me.
I’m pretty sure that’s him.
“She’s not one hundred percent,” I tell Rock. My gaze shifts to Ransom. “She didn’t stop to get a good look, with her being attacked and all.”
He holds up his hands. “I understand. I’ll wait outside if you want to question him.”
Ransom steps out. I don’t think for a second we’re not being monitored.
Crouching down, I poke at Eduardo until he meets my eyes. “Someone put you up to it?”
He shakes his head then jerks it toward the door. “Mary.”
“What?”
“Mary-ella.”
I glance at Rock. “Who the fuck is that?”
“How would I know?”
“My girl’s name is Trinity. The blonde. Why’d you go after her?”
He shakes and drools.
“He’s fuckin’ useless, Rock,” Z mutters.
Rock settles his hand on my shoulder. “You good?”
“No. But there’s not much more to be done here. There’s no justice in killing a half-dead fucker who can’t defend himself.” I’m still not entirely sure this pathetic fuck had anything to do with Trinity’s attack. I may be a thug, but even I won’t cross certain lines.
He shakes his head. Before we make another move, Ransom and his sergeant-at-arms, Killa, pop back in the room.
Ransom raises his eyebrows at us.
“We’re good.” Good as we’re going to be considering these assholes robbed me of the payback I’d been looking for.
He smiles as if this isn’t a fucking disgusting, shitty situation and nods at Rock. “Can we talk business before you go?”
“Sure.” Rock sounds neutral, but I know him well enough to know he’d rather do anything but.
He leads us upstairs. Rock steps into the living room and a girl who’s eighteen if she’s a fuckin’ day takes one look at us, lets out a short scream, and runs into the kitchen.
“Finish it,” Ransom says behind us. Few seconds later, there’s a muffled shot from the basement.
At least that’s one less body on my conscience. I’m still not convinced this wasn’t some sort of initiation suggested by Ransom or one of his officers. I’ll happily wipe each one of them off the face of the planet. Eduardo got the idea that shit was okay from somewhere.
“You can call your other guys in, Rock,” Ransom suggests. Yeah, just what we need.
Ransom and Rock sit down together at the kitchen table. I take up the space behind Rock’s back and keep my eye on the room. Killa stands behind Ransom and keeps his eyes on our crew.
I’m not insulted. I’m doing the same.
“I got customers who want some green, but I can’t touch any in this area,” Ransom starts off. He doesn’t fuck around with small talk, something I know Rock appreciates.
“GSC won’t sell to you?”
Ransom snorts. “Not without a hefty mark-up.”
Rock glances over at Z, who took up the seat to Rock’s left, before answering. “I’ll be honest, we’re tapped out right now. How much are you looking for and how often?”
Ransom names an absurd amount and Rock immediately shakes his head. “We can do maybe a quarter of that, but not for three to four months.” Rock holds up his hand. “And that wouldn’t change our agreement. No fuckin’ meth in Empire.”
Ransom shrugs. “There ain’t much of a market for it anymore, anyway.”
Normally I’d say that’s good news. Except Ransom’s lying through his teeth. The two meth labs he’s got set up on either side of this building suggest business is booming.
“There’s no decent clubs left in the area, you know,” Ransom says. I guess we’ve moved on to his other topic of conversation. “I got two girls who’d like to work a Crystal Ball—”
“Open a club out here.” Rock says, cutting that idea off.
“You know everyone crosses the bridge for that shit.”
Rock shrugs. “Open one closer to Vermont.”
“Got no juice for zoning.”
“What do you want me to say? Last time your girls worked there, they were turning tricks. That shit doesn’t go on in our club.”
Ransom’s face doesn’t change much, but he’s clearly pissed. “First, that was under our old leadership. Second, you know damn well that shit goes on all the time.”
“Any of our girls get caught, they get canned. I don’t need Vice sticking their nose in our business. Same for drugs.”
Ransom cocks his head like he thinks Rock’s full of shit.
Z pipes up. “We just did extensive drug-testing and fired a bunch of people.”
“My girls are clean. I’ll send them for whatever tests you want.”
Rock turns to Z. “We need any new girls?”
Z shrugs. “We can always use fresh talent.”
“Your girls dancin’ ‘cause they want to or you forcing them to?” Rock’s tone borders on disrespectful and Killa raises an eyebrow.
Don’t even think about it, cocksucker.
Ransom doesn’t seem to care one way or another. “Gabby’s got a kid to support. Her ol’ man’s locked up.” Club should be supportin’ her and the kid if he’s locked up over something he did for them, but whatever. No one asked for my opinion.
“Mariella just wants to save up for a BMW,” Ransom says with a chuckle.
Mariella. None of us show it, but I know each one of us reacted to hearing the name.
“You sure you’re okay with that, Rock?” Z asks when we’re back on the road.
“No, I’m not fuckin’ all right with it. I’m trying to keep the fuckin’ peace, though. We keep callin’ him a liar ain’t helpful.” Rock stops his rant long enough to glance at Z in the rear view. “You okay with it? You’re the one who’s gonna have to keep an eye on them.” This is Rock’s not-so-subtle way of telling Z he’s not spending any more time at CB than he needs to.
“Yeah. Only giving them one or two afternoon shifts. I ain’t bumping our regular girls to make room for these two.”
Rock inclines his head my way. “You satisfied with how this went down?”
“No. Not at all. Something’s off about the whole thing. The way he already had the guy beat half to death. The way he was all prepared to talk business after.” I shake my head. “Feel like we got lured down here and bent over. Sure as fuck not happy about letting their girls in our club. You know if Loco gets wind of us selling our weed to Vipers, he’ll go ballistic.”
Rock sighs and grips the steering wheel tighter. “You’re right on all counts. We need more bodies. Bull and Steer said they’d both stick around for the week and help out at CB, but I can’t see Sway lettin’ two of his officers hang here indefinitely.”
“Call some nomads in. Iron Jim’s had interest for a while now,” I suggest. He’s a scary fuck. Perfect to station down at CB.
“Yeah, okay.”
Z’s phone buzzes and he taps me on the shoulder. “Trin’s patch won’t be ready for two weeks.”
I turn and face him. “Are you fuckin’ kidding me?” Haven’t I waited long enough?
“No. Patty had a heart attack. Her daughter came up to take over the shop, but she’s backed up.”
“Yeah, well why don’t you take your pretty-boy face down there and charm her into moving your favorite brother to the top of her list?”
He screws his face into mock-disgust. “Have you seen Patty’s daughter?”
“No.”
“For you and Trin, I’ll take the hit,” he says, shaking his head.
“Thanks.”
He gets another text and chuckles. “Hey, Bronze is renting a chair at Dirty’s place for a bit.”
Rock raises an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”
“That who tatted Hope’s name on you?” I ask.
Rock lifts the corner of his mouth in a smirk. “Z just can’t keep his mouth shut, can he?”
From the back, Z snickers.
“I think his feelings are just hurt, prez. He always thought you’d ink his name on you first.”
Not at all insulted, Z laughs even harder.
“When’s he gettin’ into town?” I ask Z.
“Says he’s already here. Looking to set up appointments this week if we know of anyone.”
Perfect timing.
At least I heard from Wrath once, so I know he’s okay.
Of course it was to identify my attacker. I’m still upset that I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure.
“Are you okay?” Hope asks for the tenth time.
“Yeah,” I answer because I know she’s scared out of her mind. She checks her phone, probably upset she hasn’t heard from Rock.
“He won’t text you while they’re handling this, Hope. He’s probably got a burner on him.”
She seems confused. Isn’t she a lawyer? “If they ever got arrested, he wouldn’t want the cops to make the connection to you so easily,” I explain.
“Oh.”
She looks like she’s going to be sick.
I hold up the little flip phone in my hand. “Burner to burner,” I explain.
“Oh,” she says again.
A little later I get another text.
On our way home.
Thank God.
The guys are either weary or fired-up when they return. No one’s covered in blood, so I take that as a positive sign. Rock squeezes my shoulder and nods at me before taking Hope upstairs.
None of us explained the situation to Heidi, so she’s not sure what to make of all the guys storming in. We haven’t had a semi-lockdown situation like this since she was a kid and I doubt she remembers much of it. She’s in Axel’s lap, talking, when Murphy comes in. She glances up and waves hello.
My attention is drawn to Wrath and I immediately get up and run to him.
He catches me, and lifts me into his arms. “You okay, angel?”
“Better now.”
He presses a kiss to my lips. Quick, but full of affection. “Rock go upstairs?”
“Yup.”
“We’re gonna have church later when the CB guys return.”
“Okay. Need me to do anything?”
“No, baby.” His gaze strays to somewhere behind me and I turn to see Muphy talking quietly with Heidi and Axel. He seems to be behaving himself and I wonder if this is part of the working things out he mentioned the night of the bonfire.
“You got plans this week?” Wrath asks as we walk down to our room.
“Nothing special. Some things I need to do around here…why?”
He leans against the wall while I open the door, and follows me inside. “Just want to take you somewhere.”
“Okay.”
Wrath’s on some sort of mission. He keeps talking, but he’s stripping me out of my clothes at the same time. Then he’s stripping off his own clothes and leading us into the shower.
He leans down and nips my ear. “Miss me?”
Shivers ripple over my skin. Both from desire and all the fear I felt earlier. “Yes.”
“Worried?”
“Very.”
He straightens up, finishes washing me and hands me the shower gel. “I think things are okay for now. I still don’t want you running around alone or unarmed. Prospects know they’re supposed to keep an eye on you and Hope. Think you can talk to her, so she’s not giving them a hard time?”
“Yeah, of course.”
He turns and I take my time washing his back, digging my fingers into his tight muscles, admiring every inch of him.
“Your ass is a perfect blank canvas, if you ever want to get my name tatted on it,” I tease, giving him a soft smack.
He laughs and turns, snapping off the water. Yanking me against him, he stares down into my face. “Funny you should mention that.”