Things went from bad to worse when we made the turn into the clubhouse. I saw Junior DiSalvo’s silver Mercedes pull out, tires screeching.

“What the fuck do you suppose that shit’s about?” Chase asked, pulling off his helmet.

“Nothing good,” I said. My stomach turned. It had been three days since I last saw Maya. I had a pickup out at Cups tomorrow night. About a dozen times I’d stopped myself from showing up at her apartment. I couldn’t get that girl out of my mind.

Seeing Junior here at the clubhouse just reminded me how badly I wanted to get her away from that creep. He was fifty times worse than Jed Byron. For the most part, Jed could only fuck things up for himself and maybe Addie. Junior DiSalvo’s blast radius was a hell of a lot wider.

Bear was standing in the doorway when we got to it, looking grim. Over his shoulder, Mama stood with her arms crossed in front of her. She looked pissed, staring daggers at his back.

“Glad you’re back,” Bear said. “We’ve got church.”

Chase shot me a look. I ran a hand through my hair and walked in after him. The rest of the membership was already seated around the table except for E.Z. He’d taken a couple of the prospects up the coast to scout some property.

Of the guys at the table, half of them looked like they’d just shit glass. Zig Wallace, our club secretary, couldn’t even sit. He paced behind his chair as Bear picked up the gavel.

“Listen,” he started. “I’m gonna cut right to it so we can get Axle and Chase up to speed.”

“Yeah,” Chase said. “Things were a little tense with Jed Byron. It’s handled but it’s something we should maybe put to the membership.”

Bear raised a hand to silence him. Deep lines furrowed his brow and he sat back in his chair, running a hand across his beard. I got a sick feeling low in my gut. Junior’s recent presence didn’t make things any better.

“Later,” Bear said. “We’ve had kind of an emergency pop up.”

“What’d he do?” I said, leveling a hard stare at Bear. Bear leaned forward; clenching two fists he slammed them to the table.

“Junior DiSalvo’s got himself in a jam. It’s the kind of thing that could cause some blowback if we don’t make sure it gets handled.”

My vision clouded. Red rage settled low in my gut. I didn’t want to hear what Bear had to say next. Fucking Junior.

“What’s he done?” Chase asked. Zig slammed his fist against the back of his chair, toppling it.

“Sit your ass down, Zig,” Bear said. “This little shit storm is gonna get a lot worse if you guys can’t keep your heads about it. It’s a problem, but if we act fast, we can contain it.”

Benz stood up and went over to Zig. He whispered something in Zig’s ear and got him to sit, at least. Then Benz shot me a look. He probably knew me better than any other member sitting at this table since we patched in the same week, over a decade ago.

“Bear,” I said, my tone sharper than was probably wise. I couldn’t help it. For weeks I’d had a bad feeling about Junior DiSalvo. I’d warned Bear and the others that something was going to go sideways where he was concerned. By the look on Bear’s face, it was bad. Real bad.

“He let personal shit interfere with business,” Bear said. “I don’t know if you caught the news today, but a body washed up by the pier. It’s one of Junior’s guys. Cory Kline.”

I let my hand drop to the table. Cory was a dickhead, but he sure as hell didn’t deserve to get caught up in whatever shit Junior pulled.

“What the fuck happened?” I asked.

“Junior happened,” Benz, our Sergeant at Arms, answered. “It’s a good thing you weren’t here, Axle. You’d have smashed that little shit’s face in. He sat down right in front of us, bawling his head off. He stabbed the kid. Do you believe that? Stabbed him in the back alley of Cups, for fuck’s sake. On his own fucking property.”

I dropped my head. Shit. This wasn’t just a mess, it was a nuclear bomb.

“Who knows?” I asked.

“He already took care of the security cameras,” Bear said.

“He dump the body himself?”

“Obviously,” Kade answered. He got out of his chair and started pacing the way Benz had a minute ago. “Fucking genius, that guy.”

“So what the fuck does he want from us?”

“Protection,” Bear said. “No different than always. We gotta keep our ears to the ground with the Port Az P.D. So far, they think it’s a drug deal gone bad. One blessing, Cory Kline was up to his ears in that shit.”

“’Roids,” I said.

“You got it,” Bear answered. “Assuming Junior’s telling the truth about the aftermath, we should be able to steer the heat away from him.”

“Why should we bother?” I asked. “Maybe this is a two-birds-with-one-stone kind of deal. Let Junior twist for his own shit. Get him out of the way.”

Bear slammed his fist against the table. “Because shit is still too precarious with the DiSalvos. Junior’s weak. If the cops close in on him, he can’t be trusted to keep his mouth shut. If we make any move against him now, then I’ll have his old lady to contend with. We gotta play this smart. Believe me, this shit makes me just as sick as it does you, but there’s a bigger picture, Axle. And I’m sorry that the worst of it is going to fall on you, but that’s the way it is.”

I shook my head and let out a hard breath. “I get it, Bear. I’m not looking to shirk my responsibility. You know you can count on me to handle this however you see fit. Like you said, Junior’s a shitbird, but for now he’s a necessary shitbird.”

“Well.” Bear leaned back. “I’m glad you can see clearly on that. Because it gets worse.”

Kade swore under his breath. I didn’t like the look that passed between him and Bear. A large brown envelope sat on the table next to Bear’s left hand. He picked it up and opened the tab on it. I couldn’t make out the details from where I sat, but Bear pulled out an 8X10 black-and-white photograph.

“I said Junior took care of the footage from the security cameras. I didn’t say what he found on them before he did that. There was a witness.”

Bile rose in my throat. I didn’t like where this shit was going one bit.

“Mother fucker.” This came from Zig. Benz dropped his fist to the table. On the other end of the table, Deacon looked about ready to pop a vein in his neck.

Bear flipped the photo over face-down and slid it across the table to me.

“You gotta be kidding me,” I said, unable to bring myself to turn the photo over. “It’s bad enough that idiot offed Cory Kline on his own property and under a goddam camera. You’re telling me he did it in front of somebody. Now we gotta deal with this unlucky asshole?”

“Not we,” Bear said. “You.”

I rubbed my chin with my thumb and fingered the edges of the photo with my other hand. “Goddammit, Bear.”

“Axle, I know. I don’t like it anymore than you do. But we can’t risk Junior getting snatched up. He goes down, he’s gonna take us with him. Long term, it’s time to think of another solution where the DiSalvos are concerned. For now, we gotta play the hand we’ve been dealt. Shitty as that may be.”

“He’s sure this poor prick saw something?” I tapped my fingers on the back of the photo.

“I saw the security footage. There’s no doubt. They’ve already gone to the locals about it. This morning right after the news hit. Thank God, somebody friendly to us took the statement and gave me a heads-up just before Junior got here.”

“Jesus.” I knew what that meant. This had already gone beyond me being able to just scare the shit out of the witness. I was going to have to take them out. Fucking Junior.

“I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, time is of the essence here, Axle,” Bear said.

“Yeah.” Slamming my fist against the table one last time, I lifted the corner of the photograph and turned it over.

My heart dropped to the floor and the air went out of my lungs. There, staring just left of the security camera in the dark alley of Cups, was Maya. Junior DiSalvo’s eyewitness was Maya.