21.

Beau

I left my woman crying inside the apartment being consoled with an arm around her waist by a mournful Livvy while Crass stood as a sentinel behind them. With a nod, I closed the door but didn’t leave until the locks clicked into place.

Now back at the clubhouse, the six of us—Duke, Chaos, Blood, Carver, Sneak and me—sit around the oval table in our meeting room off of Duke’s office. I’m in my spot to Duke’s right, as his VP and right-hand man.

Chaos leans back in his chair to Duke’s left while we wait for our president to bring the meeting to order. Next to him sits Blood. Then next to me, Carver. Finally at the opposite end of the oval sits Sneak. Sneak, being the last of Duke’s lieutenants to join is forced to sit the furthest away from the president.

Every man here has earned his place, despite our youthfulness. This room, with all its dark wood-paneled walls stained darker by years of smoke buildup and troubled times, used to bring me peace from just steppin’ foot inside. The one window, a reinforced window behind the president’s chair above his head, shows straight beams of light hitting dead center, highlightin’ the very ideals we hold most dear. Dropped in the middle of the thick oak table, our founding members commissioned the carving, the emblem we proudly wear on our backs, the flaming devil head with the words Brimstone Lords scrawled in old English lettering above the head, and the words: Live Ride Brotherhood below it. Brotherhood. This is the one word we’ll all need to remember in times to come, because it’s the binding fabric of our club and the very thing that psychopath is tryin’ to tear apart. I would’ve preferred to drop the Liv bomb on Chaos in private before bringin’ it to table so not to blindside the man. Tried several times to call him on my drive back from Chicago only to have every call sent straight to voicemail. No time to pull him aside here at the club as I’d only just walked inside when Duke called the meet.

Eyeing each of us, Duke starts. “So what’re we doing about this bastard?”

Before anyone else can chime in, I got to get what we’ve learned off my chest. “We figured out his play.”

All eyes turn to me.

“Me, Elise, Liv and Crass, we figured out the pussy’s play, and it ain’t good. He knew my cousin Logan. Don’t know the why of it, but he’s targetin’ any woman with a club connection who might’ve slept with Logan Hollister. Clearly Elise had. Know Shayla had, back in high school before Elise came to town. Possible Hadley before she got with Doc. Follows the pattern.” Several breaths being sucked in sound around the room. Hate this part, but it’s now or never. I lean forward catching Chaos’s eyes before quickly swiping to Blood and put it out there. “Livvy slept with Logan.”

“What the shit?” Chaos yells. Then his chair slams to the ground from the force of him standing.

His hands slam the table in front of him at the same time, also the same time as Blood shouts. “No fuckin’ way.”

“Sorry brother,” I say, looking at Blood. Although the brother I’m talking to sits to the left of Duke. “She admitted it before I left. Crass won’t leave the women. He’s promised with his life to keep ‘em safe. All the men have sworn to keep vigilant. It sucks, but y’all know I wouldn’t’ve left Elise if I thought they couldn’t keep her safe.”

“So what now?” Carver asks.

“We gotta draw him out. Try to find out any woman connected to the club who might ‘a had sex with my idiot cousin, and draw him out.”

“Couldn’t of been too much of an idiot to have all these women sleep with him. Must’ve knew what he was doin’.” This from Sneak. Which brings us back into the uncomfortable.

Brings us back into the uncomfortable because I have to ask, “Sneak, brother, do you know if Trisha had been with Logan at any time? Hate to ask, but we gotta know any potential targets, and we’d need to hide her out quick-like if she had.”

“Shit,” he mutters. “Last thing I wanna do is question my wife about other men she’s fucked. Lemme talk to her. She’s in class right now. I’ll go down at her lunch hour. Shit,” he mutters again.

“Right, then. We need to round up every brother, prospect and hanger on. Need all information about their women, and we need to talk to any piece or hot mama. Let’s hope none of the other gals let Boss’s cousin in their pants.” Duke’s final order. “Now get the fuck out of here.”

Good thing we got responsible workers in our club businesses because not one of us six will be gettin’ any work done ‘til we can solve this. Houdini’s goin’ down. Come hell or high water, he’s goin’ down.

Once I step back into the common, I stand off to the side leaning against the wall closest to the bar and watch a very pissed off Chaos already on his cell phone talking real low. Yeah, I know who’s on the receiving end of his frustration. If I’d just found out about Elise, I’d be doin’ the same. So I wait patiently until he hangs up, then walk over casually to him, dropping a hand to his shoulder. “Speak to you outside?”

He grunts and nods.

I take off, and he follows.

When I turn on him, but before I speak, he starts, “Liv and me got history.”

“Walls were thin in the condo,” I admit.

“Right. Blood, Liv and I, we grew up together. My pops wasn’t a brother, which I know you know. I tried to stay cool, but Liv is…Liv. No staying cool around that, brother. She laid it out for me, how she felt, what she wanted from me. But how uncool would it be to move in on your best friend’s sister? So I did what I thought was right, and I shut it down.”

S’ppose it’d be as uncool as movin’ in on your cousin’s girl.

Me and Chaos ain’t so different except Logan cheated and is dead, and I never slept with Elise back then, no matter how badly I wanted to.

“She was obviously hurt. Made damn sure I knew she’d met someone. I thought it was bullshit. Now I find out it wasn’t? Fuck, Boss, she gave him that? She gave that dipshit cousin of yours what should’ve been mine?” He runs an agitated hand through his hair. “Thought it was mine.” Then he begins to pace. “I lost my shit. What I knew, she’d never been with another man. I claimed that as mine.” And he stops his pacing to look me dead in the eye, his tone turns hard. “All this time, and it wasn’t mine.” At those last words, he shoves a thumb to his chest. Finally, he drops his head and his hands to his hips.

Defeated. My brother looks utterly defeated. “That was the night Tank got dead, Boss. Blood called me freaking out. I had to have his back. But to have his back meant turning mine on Liv, rolling out of her bed to do it. We got our revenge but had to move out fast. Couldn’t go back to Chicago for a while and by the time I thought I could, she wouldn’t take my calls, so I thought it best to let her get on with her life.”

“Don’t have to tell me about tryin’ to stay cool. Newly twenty, and I was willin’ to raise that dipshit’s baby as my own if it meant Elise and I could be together.”

“Houdini can’t get to her, Boss. Not a world I want to live in where Livvy isn’t breathing in it somewhere.”

“She’s safe. But we got work to do to keep her safe.”