Lexi

---

He’d told me there’d be cops and kids, but I’d still pictured the television version of a biker party, and this was more like a family reunion. I mean, not my family because there were no drugs, but the normal kind of family reunion.

Little Emmy found me and introduced me to all the kids, like she was special because she’d met Bubbles’ girlfriend before them. That girl was going to break hearts someday. I met her dad, and got to say hello to her mom again.

I also finally met Angelica, as well as her father and stepmother. Her dad didn’t look much older than her, but I figured it would be bad form to point it out.

Halfway through the party, Gen grabbed my hand and dragged me away from the crowd.

She let go when we were twenty yards away and rounded on me. “Your sister’s one of the MC’s whores?”

I put my hands on my hips and glared at her. “You want to reword that?”

“Answer the question!”

“Duchess!”

We both jumped at Gonzo’s loud yell across the parking area, and she crossed her arms and glared at him while he stalked his way to us.

He glared at her as he neared. “You know the rules. You need to talk to Duke about this. Not Lexi.” He looked at me and his expression softened. “Sorry. You okay?”

I looked at Gen. “I love my sister more than anyone else on the planet. Call her a sex worker or a workin’ girl, but if you call her a whore again I’ll slap that bitchy, queen-of-the-world Heather smirk right off your face.”

I turned and stormed away, with no idea where I was headed. Matty stepped to me and offered his arm. I put mine through his, and he walked me into the clubhouse.

“Gen was probably mad at Duke and the situation. She shouldn’t have taken it out on you.” He looked towards a wall with no one near, and said, “Get Bubbles. Duke too.”

Three minutes later, Bubbles and Duke came out of a back room.

I looked at Bubbles and stood up straight. “Since you say I can’t hang out in your room without you, I need to leave.”

Bubbles looked at Matty, who said, “Gen found out about her sister and dragged her away from us to question her. I don’t know what Gen said, but Lexi told Gen not to call her sister a whore again, so I’m guessing it wasn’t nice.”

Duke pulled a chair in front of me and sat in it, so we were almost face to face. “I’m sorry. I’ll talk to Gen, but she might still be a little bit of a bitch until she gets past it. I don’t think anyone else will be.” He looked to Matty and back to me. “I’m glad you trusted Matty. What women do you trust?”

“I like everyone I’ve met. I even liked Gen until…”

“That’s good. I need you to be comfortable here. We want you to feel like this is your family. All families have problems, but you work through them. You and Gen will get past this. I hope you’ll change your mind about leaving.”

“Maybe she and I can hang out in here, so she can drink?” asked Matty. “She’s worried about the cops out there freaking out about a nineteen-year-old drinking.”

I shook my head. “I thought I’d be at the party with Bubbles. I didn’t know he’d be gone more than he was around.” I looked at him. “Why are you in here? I needed you!”

“Gonzo took care of you,” Matty told me. “Someone will always step up, even when our guy isn’t around.” He turned me towards him. “You’re good for Bubbles. We’ve got your back.”

Bubbles crossed his arms. “Some of the top brass of the PD wanted a little pow-wow, and Duke asked me to sit in. We’ve been back there maybe ten minutes, and we need to get back, but first I need to be sure you’re settled.”

The door opened, light spilled in, and I jumped. It closed and I saw it was Harmony and Angelica.

“Are you okay?” Angelica asked. “She just has these ideas, sometimes, and then her temper takes hold and… I’m sorry.” She looked at Duke. “Gen won’t tell us who told her. We’ll let you get to the bottom of it. She’s being extra-pissy right now.”

Duke pulled his phone out, typed something, and put it back in his pocket. “Bubbles and I are headed back behind closed doors with the police chief.” He looked at me. “Promise you’ll stay until you and Bubbles have a chance to talk? It isn’t safe for you to leave alone.”

“I know Gen’s your wife, but she can’t just call my sister a whore to my face.” I looked at Bubbles. “It doesn’t feel like you’re in agreement with that.”

“I’m in total agreement, but you seem to be holding your own. I saw you try to fight the Playas off, and I can see you’re standing up for yourself now. I’m not going to make you look weak by coming to your rescue. I have confidence you can handle yourself. You have friends around you. Hang out with them until I finish, and then I’ll hang out with you while Duke supervises the cutting of the pig. Deal?”

I nodded, and he and Duke left.

Bubbles

---

I knew she’d be fine, but she didn’t. However, I trusted Matty, Angelica, and Harmony to show her what it means to be one of us. I could tell her all day long, but she needed to experience it for herself.

“Do I want to know who you texted?” Duke and I were side-by-side, on our way back to the conference room.

“Her brother. He’s here somewhere. He’ll either calm her down or really piss her off, but either way, it’ll get her focus off Lexi.”

I chuckled. “Any idea why Chief Keller is basically showing his hand?”

“Tourism took a hit during the last gang war. They know Lexi’s with you, and that the Playa’s were after her. He’s worried.”

“Marlin needs to know he has a rat.”

“He does, but I’m not of a mind to tell him until we’re sure he needs to stay in charge.”

“I’ll follow your lead. Ready?”

He nodded, and I opened the door, waited for him to enter, and followed.

“Sorry about that,” said Duke. “Had to settle a disagreement. Where were we?”

“You were explaining why my intel about Bubbles being responsible for Fury’s disappearance is wrong.”

“No,” Zeke interrupted. “This is a conversation, not an interrogation. Bubbles has already told you he had no part in Fury’s disappearance. We don’t know where he is. I believe the conversation we were having involves making sure the news doesn’t have opportunity to report on how many gun deaths we’ve had in the city during a short number of days.”

He sighed. “Yes. Anything you can do to keep that from happening again will be greatly appreciated.”

“We only shoot in self-defense,” said Duke.

“I don’t even shoot in self-defense, since I can’t legally carry,” I added. “Look, you know Fury threatened Lexi, and that three of his homeboys attacked my girl and tried to take her.” I glanced at Zeke and he didn’t stop me, so I kept going. “You’ve heard that I did something to Fury, but in reality, I just had a conversation with the motherfucker, and then told Marlin to control his people. If something happened to Fury, it was because he stepped out of line within his own organization.”

Keller’s eyes scanned us. Cop eyes. Cold, hard, analyzing. “Marlin doesn’t want another war either. Ya’ll went to him instead of Fury?”

“An excellent assumption,” said Duke.

Keller narrowed his eyes at Duke, realizing he hadn’t actually verified anything.

He must’ve decided that was as far as he was getting with Duke, and he turned to me. “Lexi’s mom hasn’t been in their apartment in a few days.”

Zeke caught this one. “I believe she took a health vacation.”

Keller nodded, stood, and offered his hand to me. “Thanks for your time.”

I shook his hand, and he turned and shook Duke’s as well, but only nodded to Zeke.

“I’m glad we can work together,” said Duke. “We might come at things from a different direction, but we have most of the same goals.”

Keller was about to argue the point, so I jumped in with, “We’re about to cut the pig. I hope you’ll stick around to eat with us.”

He looked at me a few seconds, then back to Duke. “I don’t believe we’re on the same side, but it’s true we have some of the same end goals. I appreciate not having to police this part of the city for drugs, and I like being able to focus on the positive. We’ll continue to do so, assuming this spark doesn’t turn into another fully engulfed war.”

I escaped the room and followed Duke to the control room. Paco saw us and pointed to a monitor off to the side. We watched the women talking and cutting up, and then Gen got a phone call. She stepped away to answer it. She asked who was on the other end of the phone several times, and they must’ve hung up before she was ready for them to, because she glared at her phone a good ten seconds before she put it away, took a breath and visibly calmed, and walked to the group. She didn’t appear upset when she pulled Lexi away from the group, so there was no reason for the other ol’ladies to block her.

Gen walked Lex to a place she thought was blind from the cameras — we’d added a few six months before.

Once she thought no one could see them, Gen put her hands on her hips and her face turned hateful. “Your sister’s one of the MC’s whores?”

My little Half-pint seemed to grow two inches taller, put her hands on her hips in a way that told me she was ready to block a strike if necessary, and glared at Gen. “You want to reword that?”

“Answer the question!”

Both women jumped a little at Gonzo’s “Duchess!”

Gonzo gave Gen a small reprimand and asked Lex if she was okay. I smiled at my girl’s response because she showed zero fear. I had no idea what a heather was, but I should probably find out.

Matty took my girl into the clubhouse and away from the party, and I was grateful. I’d protected him a few times, but I didn’t think this was just him payin’ me back for being nice. Matty and Lexi seemed to have bonded over talk about hair and clothes.

“Your girl’s a little spitfire. Good for you.”

I looked at Duke. “Any idea who called Gen?”

He looked at Paco, who said, “Burner phone. Her number’s listed all over the place so people can call her about real estate listings. Anyone can get it.”

I stooped and wrote the address they were last keeping Fury. His aunt’s house. “Brain can tell us what phone numbers are at or near an address. Can you do that?”

“Yeah. He wrote a program for it, so I only have to run it.”

He turned, went through a menu, typed in the address, got the longitude and latitude, plugged it into another program, and we saw a list of phone numbers.

And the burner was one of them.

I looked at Duke. “I told him I’d leave his balls, but they’d come off too if he messed with her again.”

Duke shook his head. “Not touching the asshole’s balls with a ten foot pole. I’ll pay to add Fury to Gavin’s list of people.”

“Gavin’s supposed to show up at the party after dark. I promised him a drink from Genie so long as she don’t remember it. He took a fancy to her at another party.” Genie would take him inside to do him when we told her to, so Gavin would only have to erase the actual bite from her mind. I put my hand in my pocket and ran my finger over the edge of my folded knife. “I think we need to face the fact Marlin’s no longer an ally.”

“Agreed. We’ll bring it up at church tomorrow. We don’t take his word for anything else. Whether we do more needs to come to a vote. Keller was right to be worried about another street war.”

I looked at Paco. “Anything else I need to know?” He pointed to the live feed, and I saw Lexi sitting between Matty and Micca, smiling and joking. Angelica and Bethany were across the table from them.

I looked to Duke and gave him my best smirk. “Good luck with your Duchess.”

He rolled his eyes at me, and I left.

I sat between Angelica and Gabby, and looked to Bash’s Princess. “Tink. Got a guy who wants me to restore an MGB. Bash said I should talk to you.”

“Hell yeah. What year?”

“Sixty-five. Little red convertible. Tranny is trashed, engine’s in decent shape so we’ll leave it alone for now. Bash said I should ask you to look it over before I get started. Said you’ll probably have some timesaving suggestions. He had some, but said you’re the expert.”

“I’d love to buy an old one and bring it back to life again, but there aren’t enough hours in the day. I spend enough time just keeping my ancient thing in good running order.”

“I don’t know anything about engines or transmissions.” Lexi’s voice was soft, almost apologetic.

“You don’t need to, Half-pint. I’ll take care of whatever you’re drivin’.”

Something brushed over my toe, and I realized she was trying to touch me under the table. I stretched my leg out so she could reach it, and her bare foot landed on my shin.

“It’s what they do,” said Micca. “I don’t even belong to Razor, and I walk outside to see him changing the oil or checking the breaks on my car. He even keeps my windshield wiper fluid filled.”

Lexi looked at me in question, and I smiled. “I changed your oil and topped off your other fluids while it was at the shop. Front end was a little out of alignment, and I fixed it before it screwed with your tires too much. Your brakes are in good shape.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Slow down going over the speed bumps at school, and make sure you hit them straight on. If you aren’t runnin’ late, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

She looked down and I smelled arousal. She hadn’t liked her over-the-knee hand-spankin’ when it happened, but the memory of it was a turn-on. But, it was time to change the conversation.

“You threatened to slap Gen?”

She lifted her head and glared at me. “She called Etta a whore!”

“I know, Lex. You’re good. I’m glad you didn’t actually slap her, but the threat was fine.” I glanced at Angelica and looked back to Lex. “Gen got a phone call from someone who didn’t identify themselves. Someone outside the family trying to cause discord. I’d almost bet on Gen apologizing tonight, but it might be next week. She’ll come around once she’s calmed down. It isn’t you she’s pissed at, you just ended up in the crosshairs while she verified the information.”

“She’s with Brain and her brother. Cassie too, I think,” said Matty.

“She’ll call her brother names, but she’ll listen to Brain,” Angelica said with a chuckle. “It’ll work out, Lexi.”

Gabby leaned into me and I smelled her anxiety. I put my arm around her and asked, “You okay, little bunny?”

“Yeah. I don’t deal so well with conflict, but I like Lexi and wanted to be here for her. I mean, I like Gen, too, and knowing she got a strange phone call helps me understand what happened, but it doesn’t excuse it. We’ve all seen her temper, it’s just usually not directed at one of us.”

I scented and heard activity around the smoker, and it seemed a good time to change the conversation. I looked at Lex. “You want to watch Knife cut the pig? He turns it into a bit of a show. He’s really good.”

“Oh, he is!” said Matty. “You can sit on my shoulders to watch if you want.”

I gave Matty a mock glare. “No, she can’t. Only shoulders she sits on are mine.”

He gave her a shoulder bump and laughed. “My dastardly plan worked. Now you’ll have the best seat in the house.”

I leaned across the table, put my hand on his, and met his gaze. “Thanks for takin’ care of her. It means a lot.”

He gave me a sad smile. “It’s what we do, but maybe we don’t do it so good when it’s one of us who turns on a new person. I know how that feels — makes you want to leave and never come back. If I hadn’t loved Razor so much, that’s exactly what I’d have done. She’s good for you, and I like her. Doesn’t mean I don’t like Gen, just means Gen was wrong and I won’t be afraid to tell her.” He glanced at Angelica and back to me. “The ol’ladies had my back, but it felt like most of the members were trying to stay neutral. You took care of me a few times, and it meant a lot. I didn’t always feel safe, and this is supposed to be a safe space.”

I looked at Lexi. “He’s right. The compound and our neighborhood are our safe spots. The world is dangerous and we need down time. You handled it just right, but we’ll do our best to make sure you don’t have to handle anything like that again.”

She shook her head. “I’m okay. I know to stay away from Gen, and if she calls my sister a whore again I’ll follow through on my threat. She’s a Heather. Nothing more than a high-school-mean-girl. I know how to deal with them.”

Matty looked to me, wanting me to fix it, but I only said, “Okay, Half-pint. I hope she changes your mind, but that’ll be up to her. All I ask is that you listen to her, if she apologizes, and you don’t resort to physical violence without a damned good reason.”