My phone woke me, and I quieted it before even looking at who it was. Heather was still sleeping, her naked back curved away. The sheet had fallen down to her hip, showcasing her spine and hair.

I had to stop and take a breath. This girl was fucking gorgeous.

I wanted to reach over and smooth a hand down her back, knowing she’d roll over and open her legs for me, but I resisted. Barely. I sat up, turned the fan on to cover some of my noise, grabbed my phone and some clothes, and headed for the bathroom.

The hall was dark and, no surprise, so was Bren’s room. Her door was closed, but I knew my sister, pain in the ass that she was. She wasn’t in there. I studied her closed door a moment, knowing I’d have to track her down, then continued into the bathroom.

Switching the light on, I put my phone on speaker and answered. “What’s up?”

“We have a problem.”

I was pulling on my boxer briefs, but I paused. Moose’s voice was serious, the deadly serious tone I didn’t like to hear.

“What’s up?” I repeated.

I could hear yelling in the background as Moose continued. “Chad brought in someone we’re going to have a problem with, and Congo kinda went apeshit.”

Chad was a surprise. He didn’t like to bring problems to the crew, but Congo wasn’t. He tended to explode at any little thing.

“Okay.” I pressed the screen and saw it was a little after four in the morning. “You don’t happen to know where my sister is, do you?”

If my sister wasn’t in her room, she was with her crew. And crews talked.

“I don’t. There was a party out at Belshield Field, but none of us went. She might’ve gone there. You want someone to track her down?”

I frowned. “Nah. Where are you?”

“The warehouse.”

“Okay. I’ll be there in a little bit.”

“Got it, boss.”

I just rolled my eyes. I hated being called that, but it fit.

Moose was laughing as he hung up.

After finishing dressing, I washed and put my phone in my back pocket, heading back into the hallway. I tapped lightly on Bren’s door. “B?”

No answer. I wasn’t expecting anyone, but I opened it and waited to hear any breathing. Nothing. I flicked her light on. Her bed was made, and empty.

I wasn’t going to text her this time. I’d find her another way. I had to get going if I didn’t want to find a dead body when I got to the warehouse.

I didn’t want to wake up the neighborhood, so I backed out the truck and waited until I was in the alley and with the lights turned away from the house before turning them on. They would’ve flooded my bedroom and woken Heather.

After taking back roads so no cameras could follow me, I pulled into the long driveway that led to my warehouse. There were so many trucks and bikes there, I couldn’t tell who all was around. Half the vehicles were there for storage or parts.

I kept this warehouse and another for our crew’s private hangout spot. We’d also purchased the twenty acres around it, and while I’d like to say nothing bad happened here, that wasn’t true. There was a reason I wanted privacy.

Point being: I walked inside and a guy was bleeding on the floor.

It didn’t faze me. I only asked, “He dead?”

I didn’t spare Congo, Chad, or Moose a glance as I went to the guy. He was breathing, but they were slow and shallow, wheezing. Blood seeped out of a large cut near his eye.

I turned to study my guys. “Who is he?”

Congo rushed in first, “He was messing with Chad’s mom. You know how she is, being old and shit—”

Moose cut him off, literally stepping in the way so he couldn’t see me. He growled, “Walk. Calm down.”

Moose was next in line after me in our crew. He was my most trusted, and when one of us spoke, Congo had to fall in line. Though he didn’t like it. He had the quickest fuse. When lit, there was always an explosion, and if we hadn’t been in the warehouse, I wouldn’t have let him go. As it was, when he stalked out the door and we started hearing crashing sounds, no one moved an inch.

We’d just wait until the sounds stopped.

Besides the crashing and Congo’s growl, the only other sound we could hear was the guy’s breathing, which was more and more labored. He’d have to go to the hospital. Soon.

Chad sighed. “This is my fault.”

Another crash.

Slam!

Thud!

The guy moaned, raising his head. He tried to open his eyes. “What—who?” He groaned again, his head falling back down. One sudden whoosh of breath, and he was out.

Chad went over, kneeling and pressing two fingers to the guy’s neck. He relaxed a beat later. “There’s a pulse.”

For now.

Chad looked at me, showing the same remorse I saw in Moose’s eyes.

I was still waiting to be told what the fuck had happened, but I was starting to guess. I shook my head. “He scammed your mom?”

Chad nodded, standing and heading over again.

I clipped him in the back of the skull. “Goddamn redhead.”

He ducked out of the way, but there was no edge to my words. This wasn’t the first time Chad’s temper had gotten him in trouble. And Lord knows, I couldn’t say a word. I was like a caged animal, prowling around until I got a good release—whether from sex or a fight, I wasn’t too picky. I liked doing both.

“Tell me what happened and who that guy is,” I ordered.

If Chad was mad, the scam must’ve been bad. He had a temper, but unlike Congo, Chad loathed fighting. Once he started, though, he was like the Hulk. Chaos and destruction followed him.

“His name’s Brett Marsch,” Chad said with a sigh. “He scammed a bunch of the residents at the nursing home.”

Chad’s mom was forty-nine when she’d had him. He was the second youngest of twelve kids—good old Catholic family. It was probably ten years later when she got dementia, and I knew things had gone downhill after that. Chad’s dad had been hitting the bottle harder and harder every day, and somehow checking in with Mama Gold had become Chad’s job, or he felt it was. His older sisters visited their mom regularly too.

“He pretended to volunteer there, and he opened credit cards in a bunch of their names before skipping town.”

I gestured to the guy. “How’d he get here?”

Chad grimaced. “I might’ve told him to get his ass back here or I’d go after his woman. I heard he had someone here.”

Moose swore under his breath.

Fucking hell. There went my good mood. “What do you mean?”

We didn’t threaten women or kids. That was a solid rule for us.

He winced again. “I know. I know. I never meant it.”

We were the New Kings Crew, and we didn’t bluff. Ever. That was our reputation. And it was solid too.

He held his hands up, hissing as he tried to open his fingers all the way. “But I wouldn’t have followed through, or…” His head hung down. “I would’ve figured a way to not make it so bad. But it worked.” He gestured to the guy. “He came back to town. Moral dilemma closed.”

I could’ve… No, I did.

I punched him in the face.

He went down. Thud. It was an abrupt drop.

Moose didn’t react, only raising an eyebrow.

Chad didn’t get up. He rolled to his back, watching me warily.

I pointed to the door. “Get out of here. Get out of town while you’re at it.” I nodded toward the guy. “I doubt your mom and the other residents were the first and only people he’s scammed, and I doubt he’s alone.”

Everyone had a team in Roussou. If you didn’t, you got swallowed up. You get tough, or you get the fuck out.

“Can I come back in?” Congo hollered from outside the door.

He sounded sheepish, but still pissed, and those mixed tones were enough to make us all pause. We shared a grin. Moose was the biggest, towering over us at six feet five inches and generally looking like he could eat boulders for every meal, and Congo was a smaller version of him. Both were bald. Only Congo was the shortest in our crew at five six. That didn’t affect how tough he was.

“Yeah,” I called.

He looked down as he came in. “Sorry. I was worked up.”

Moose began explaining. “Chad brought the guy here and—”

Congo cut in, “He wasn’t answering his questions quick enough, so I…”

I nodded, knowing how the guy had gotten beat so badly.

Chad was asking the questions. The guy wasn’t answering. Congo got mad, starting hitting him, and then Chad took on Congo. Moose probably sat back and ate popcorn.

What was I doing still thinking I wasn’t qualified to raise a teen? I already had two others right here.

“I stopped Congo from going too far,” Chad concluded.

I nodded, hearing my guess affirmed.

“Congo didn’t like being stopped, so those two roughed each other up after that. They were at it till you got here.”

I raised my eyebrows at Congo. “Couldn’t settle?”

Guilt flared briefly before he locked it down. “My grandmum’s in that nursing home too. If she could talk, he would’ve swindled her too.”

The guys quieted after they’d said their bit.

“Okay.” I nodded toward the door. “You guys think your hands need stitches?”

They both looked down, flexed their hands, and winced.

Chad replied, “I’m fine.”

Congo nodded. “Me too.”

I jerked my head again. “Head to the bar then. Check in with Scratch.”

“What are you going to do?” Chad frowned.

“Credit cards?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“So those can be turned off and reported as a scam, right? Your mom’s credit is fine.”

“Yeah, but—”

He wanted answers. I’d get that for him, but I didn’t need to worry one of my guys would end up in prison for manslaughter.

I jabbed my finger at the door. “Go. I’ll take care of him.”

Congo was already there. He paused, waiting for Chad, who followed him out, but slowly and with his head down, and not before staring at the guy for another minute.

“We’ll take care of it.” Moose moved toward both of them, urging them out. He disappeared through the door after them, but a moment later, he came back in.

He moved to stand next to me. “What are you planning?”

I studied the guy. “Help me get him to your truck.”

We’d deal with him, but he needed medical help first.

He grunted, and together, we lifted him, taking him to the back of Moose’s truck. He closed the tailgate as I went around and locked up the warehouse.

He was staring at one of the bikes when I came back out.

“I heard Dex Richter is trying to patrol Roussou,” he said.

I grunted this time.

I hadn’t told him about my last run-in with Richter. I would, just not now.

I tapped the back of Moose’s truck. “Take him to the hospital. Make sure Rena is working. She’ll know how to handle him.” I pulled out a bill and handed it over. Sometimes a bribe was the best way. “For her silence.”

“Where are you going?”

I flashed him a grin, going to my truck. “I’ve got a delinquent to track down.”

“You could’ve sent the guys to find her.”

I shook my head, getting inside. “Nah. This time I want to find her on my own.” I held up two fingers as my truck roared past him. “I’m out, brother.”