Текст книги "Burning Ember"
Автор книги: Darby Briar
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Текущая страница: 26 (всего у книги 33 страниц)
Never knowing what lies ahead is one of the scariest things we face as we go through life.
EMBER
Leaving the restaurant doorway, we run across the parking lot toward his truck. Me with Mav’s cut over my head, him ushering me with his hand on the small of my back. The curses he’s spitting out behind me have my smile spreading wider. By the time we get to where the truck’s parked, we’re soaked through to the bone and I’m laughing.
Instead of going to the driver’s side, he jogs beside me to the passenger door. I yell, “No, just get in.” But he completely ignores me and opens my door.
Warmth flows through me at the gesture.
When we stopped at the hospital and he spoke to Cap as if he were awake, I nearly melted on the spot. And watching him from across the table moments ago, eating his lunch, lick his fingers, and stare heatedly at me, had me nearly crawling over the table to kiss the hell out of him.
I’ve been unable to shut off this ache to be closer to him all day. The tether on my self-control is non-existent. I think I lost it somewhere in-between last night and this morning. Most likely, in Mav’s bed, or when he sprawled me out on the kitchen island and fucked me senseless.
A heavy dose of lust hits me every time I look at him, every time he touches me, and every time we kiss. I mean, he’s standing before me now with his shirt sticking to every sculpted muscle and rain dripping from his impeccable jaw and chiseled features. He’s looking down at me, his golden eyes hooded, while rain pelts both of us. The electricity sparking in the sky is nothing compared to the energy buzzing between us. It’s a steady burn that’s been lingering beneath my skin, crackling and kindling, and growing by the hour, it ready to explode if given the chance to.
Before I can second-guess myself, I toss his cut behind me on my seat, and then slowly seize him by his belt buckle and pull him toward me. Mav hand come up and slip around my neck. And then he’s crushing his lips to mine. His tongue plunges into my mouth and swirls around as I sneak my hands around his waist and under his shirt. I hold on to him with an intensity I’ve never wielded before.
He groans and breathes against my lips, “Fuck. How can I already be so addicted to you?” His lips blaze a scorching trail down my neck sucking hard enough to leave a mark. “I’d take you right here if I could.”
“That could get us both arrested,” I moan and try to remind myself why that’s such a bad idea. But even the threat of Davis isn’t enough to pull me away from Mav right now.
Thunder rumbles in the background and we continue to get soaked. We disregard it all as he dips me back and his hot kisses move to my collarbone.
“Yeah, it would. Especially the way I want to take you.” He straightens and looks down at me. “The second we get back to the clubhouse, I’m gonna be buried inside you.”
“The second?”
His hand leaves my face to travel down my body. He cups and squeezes my butt. “You can bet your ass I am.” His crooked smile is genuine. Happy. And it makes my stomach do a tilt-a-whirl. Absolutely no trace of the sorrow and stress that covered his face a couple of hours ago remains. It’s as if today at the house never happened. Only it did. I saw a part of him that no one else has seen. I saw who he really is and how deeply he can love. I saw how utterly amazing his heart is.
Resting his forehead on mine, he teases, “You’re gettin’ me all wet here, Doll, and it’s supposed to be the other way around.”
“I’m plenty wet too.”
This earns me a raised eyebrow. “Oh, yeah? Here?” He cups my sex from behind and my core muscles start to throb as they beg for more.
“Yes.”
His fingers push my shorts and panties to the side. And an unintelligible sound leaves me as two fingers sink inside me.
“How much time do we have before your meeting?”
“About an hour.”
I push him off and then hand him his cut by shoving it into his chest. “Then you better drive fast.”
He kisses me hard and slow once more before backing up. Then using his cut to cover himself, he makes his way to the driver’s side.
“Damn, it’s pourin’,” he hisses as he slides behind the steering wheel and sweeps his hand over his face. His gaze slides to me and he motions with his hand. “C’mere.”
I scoot close, weave my arm around his, and lay my head on his damp shoulder. Mav’s hand curls around my thigh. He places a kiss on the top of my head as he starts the truck.
The rightness of this moment steals my breath for second. So much so that I wish I could capture it somehow and save it. Re-experience it days and years from now.
It feels too damn precious to just let it simply slip by.
But that’s exactly what happens.
As we make our way across town, he has to pull his hand away to fight through the puddles on the road. Torrents of rain continue to slam against the glass, and the windshield wipers work overtime to give Mav a clear view. Every so often, lightning flashes through the clouds and the whole sky brightens.
I’m glad he’s the one at the wheel, because I’ve never been very good at driving in weather like this. It makes me nervous when I can only see what’s coming. I hate the not knowing.
Witnessing what I like to call a New Mexico mini tsunami, I think of all the people who are scrambling for a dry place to sleep for the night, and again I think of Ivy. I hope she’s not out in this. But at the same time I know the shelter isn’t the safest place for her either.
I murmur, “The next time it’s like this.” I gesture with my chin to the torrent hitting the windshield. “Will you take me somewhere?”
“Yeah, Doll, anything you need. Where do you wanna go?”
“To a shelter in Albuquerque.” He spares me a glance and gives me a curious look. I explain, “There’s a friend there that I’ve been meaning to pay back. I owe her money.”
“You got it. But you can also take the truck and go if you want.”
Looking up at him, I ask, “You’d just let me take your truck?”
He glances at me again. “Yeah, I told you. I trust you and I’ll take care of you. That’s means if I can do somethin’ for you, I will. All you have to do is ask.”
We make the turn leading to the clubhouse when Mav’s growls, “You’ve got to be fuckin’ shittin’ me.” His eyes are on the rearview mirror.
Every hair on my body begins to rise as I recognize the flashing red and blue lights reflected off the rearview and windshield. A siren blares for a few seconds sending a tremor down my spine.
“Are we being pulled over?”
“Yes,” he practically hisses.
“Why. Were you speeding?”
“No.” Tension spikes through his jaw as it pops, he grips the steering wheel hard. “Leo’s—cops fuck with us whenever they can.”
He slows and pulls to the side of the road as my stomach bottoms out. Mav reaches past me and opens the glove box. The first thing I see is a black gun. But he doesn’t grab the gun. He removes his registration and shuts the box with the gun still inside. He takes his ID from his wallet and has it ready to hand over the minute a figure appears beside his window and taps on it with a flash light.
It’s dusk, but I can make out Davis’s features as Mav’s window descends. He’s wearing a hat and rain drips from the brim.
“Tail light? Or you got a better one this time?” Mav snarls as he passes his documents to Davis. Davis is getting drenched but it doesn’t seem to faze him one bit.
“You were swerving. Had too much to drink tonight?”
Under his breath, Mav growls, “Swervin’ . . . my ass.”
“I smell beer. You been drinking?” Davis asks.
Mav snaps, “I had A beer with my burger. Is that a crime?”
“Depends on how many you had.”
“You deaf. I said I had A beer.”
Suddenly, Davis’s focus leaves Mav and his eyes meet mine. “Who’s this?” A spear of panic shoots through me and I cling tight to Mav’s arm.
“No one you need to concern yourself with.” Muscles strain under my grip.
“Hey, we’ve met.” Davis says, brushing Mav off as if he hadn’t spoken. “Pumpkin, right? Lily’s cousin. You still visiting or does this mean you’ve taken up with one of their lot?” he gestures between Mav and me.
Mav turns a little so his body’s blocking me from Davis. “Who she is and who she’s with is none of your fuckin’ business. Now can I be on my way, I got shit to do?”
The turbulent thunder rolls through the sky, but both Davis and Mav are silent. I can only imagine the way Mav’s looking at Davis right now. I’ve been on the other end of that glare and it’s damn scary.
“It’s a dangerous night to be out. Watch yourself, son.”
“Yeah, not your fuckin’ son. And maybe you better make sure you watch yourself too.”
In the next instant Mav grabs his license and registration from Davis, throws both to the passenger floor as his window goes up. Then blatantly ignoring Davis, Mav shifts and peels out as the truck pulls back onto the road, leaving Davis behind.
“What are you—”
Before I can spin around a wall of muscle slams into me from behind and pushes me forward. It’s all I can do to stay on my feet. Abruptly, I find myself between a wall and a body made of steel. My cheek is flattened to the cool surface. One hand circles my throat, his thumb rubbing over my pulse. The other hand grips my ponytail and pulls my hair back.
A wave of scorching hot need lights inside me. “Luce . . .”
Mav’s been furious and deadly silent since we drove away from Davis. The tension he was radiating in the truck was palpable. When we pulled into the lot of the clubhouse, he came around to my side, dragged me out of my seat, pulled me all the way into the clubhouse, past the main room, and didn’t stop until he sealed us both inside his office. The moment my eyes landed on the wall of photos, his body slammed into mine.
“Doll, I need to either fight or fuck. And I think you know which I’d rather do.” His cock pushes hard against my ass. “Say the word and I’ll find Taz—let it out in the ring.”
“Mav.”
“With what’s ridin’ me, I’m gonna be rough and I don’t want to hurt you. Don’t want to scare you away, now that I have you. But I also don’t want to hide this part of me. I asked you not to hide, so I won’t either. I’ll leave the choice up to you.”
“How rough?” Fear laced with excitement gives my voice a shaky quality. I’ve never been more turned on in my life. Adrenaline is actively firing through my veins, and I need this too. I want the quick, harsh fucking his mood and impatience promises. I’ve been yearning for it all day.
“As rough you can take it.” His hot breath sends goosebumps skittering down my neck. “Just tell me if it gets to be too much.” He buries his face in my neck and I shiver.
Reaching back, I cup his ass and pull him into me. “What in the hell are you waiting for?”
No sooner have the words left my mouth then his teeth bit down on the skin between my shoulder and my neck. Not too hard, but still painful. His hands leave my hair and his fingers work in rough harsh movements to open my shorts. The sounds of our breath and my zipper descending seem magnified. He shoves my shorts down over my ass and to my lower thighs. Then he cups both of my butt cheeks and rubs his hands up and down.
I gasp, and jerk back as he hauls my ass out and presents it to himself. “Fuck. This ass. I can’t wait to see this ass bouncing on my cock. I’m in love with this.” He rubs his hands over my cheeks again. When they leave me, I hear the sound of his belt being unbuckled. He rips my panties away. Then his fingers stroke over my sex, feeling how wet I am for him.
“This right here is for me, no one else, Doll.”
I hear only sounds, his rapid breaths, a foil packet being opened, and Mav whisperings, “Damn, I’m gonna miss feelin’ you bare.”
His grip tightening on my hip is my only warning I get. I don’t even have time to take a steadying breath before his erection enters me. In one fierce thrust, he drives himself all the way inside me. Bottoms out. So hard and so deep, I have to push against the wall to not fall forward. I cry out and prepare for more of his assault.
“Jesus Christ,” he hisses and his lips travel up the back of my neck. “Too hard?”
“More . . . Mav . . . more.”
“Luce, baby. That’s who’s fuckin’ you right now.” Drawing slowly back, he pulls nearly out of me. Then though it’s expected, I scream his name as he slams back inside. It’s the last ounce of mercy he gives. From that moment on, he pounds into me ruthlessly, and without restraint.
And yes. I love it. Every. Single. Second. Of. It.
One of his hands fondles my breast and pinches with my nipple and his other pushes on my back to make me go lower. He finds a tight grip on my shoulder. It gives him the leverage he needs to fuck me into oblivion, and oh, my dear God in heaven, he does just that. He dominates me and I savor it.
He’s demolishing my fears of giving up control to another man. Breaking the rules, I thought I needed to be free and safe. There’s pain. But the pleasure is insurmountable and flows with the pain to give me only more pleasure. He’s holding me down. He’s owning my body in every sense of the word, but I’m not scared. This is my Luce. And he’s taking and receiving. He’s falling for me as much as I’m falling for him and I know if I asked him to stop, he would. But this is a part of him just as much as every other side I’ve seen and I can’t love him if I don’t love this part of him too.
This is what he needs. What he craves. And I want to give it to him.
His hand moves to my sex and he strums my clit. My release comes swiftly and steals my breath. A crescendo of tingling sensations that fire rapidly through my core and outwards, pulsing, sparking, setting off my orgasm to mountainous heights. I call out his name once, twice.
He growls and in the next heartbeat his grip tightens, becomes unyielding, and he drives so deep that he’s pierces the very heart of me in all the ways that matter.
“Ember . . . baby . . . fuck.”
I nearly confess right then that I want it all. Every single detail. Except I want it to be my home. My porch swing. My baby’s nursery. And above all, I want Mav to be my man. I want us to be more. I want us to live the dream he imagined.
Am I crazy? Can you really know that in only days? Would he think I was completely nuts if I admitted what I feel in my heart?
My knees wobble and when his weight falls on top of me, we drop to the ground. Mav to his knees. Me to mine. His hands snake under my shirt, crisscross over my chest, and he holds me to him, breathing harshly against my still wet hair.
“Nothin’,” he breathes out. “Nothin’ will be better than this.” He places three kisses on my shoulder, neck, and ear, and then his forehead lays down on top of my shoulder for a few moments while we both try to catch our breath.
I float back to reality and realize we’re on his dirty floor, and Mav’s still inside me. He’s still semi-hard. I tighten my inner muscles around him and I’m rewarded with a laugh as he hugs me close.
“If I didn’t have this meeting, I’d lay you down on this floor, and fuck you for three days straight.”
The thought brings a smile to my face.
He draws away and says, “Hold on a sec.” A moment later something lands in the garbage. The condom. I try to stand, but I have no strength to do so. When Mav comes back, he helps me to my feet, and then just like yesterday, he helps me put my clothes to rights.
His eyes draw up to mine. He stares for a long time studying me like he does. For the first time, I see him vulnerable, afraid, and I’m not sure why.
“Did I fuck up, Doll? Was I too rough with you?”
“No, not too rough. Why? Were you holding back?”
He wraps me up in his arms and brushes my hair out of my eyes. “Not even a little.”
He holds me for a few minutes, but then murmurs that he has to go. Slowly he draws back. “I can have Rigor follow you to Bethany’s if you’d rather shower and get ready there. I know I said I wanted to keep you close, but if you need a break and don’t want to be here while I’m at church—”
I touch his lips. “No, it’s fine. I’ll get ready in your room. Plus Lily already said she’d bring me something to wear.”
“You trust her to pick somethin’ decent out for you?”
“How bad can it be?”
He chuckles while nuzzling my neck. “We are talkin’ about Lil’ Bird, right? You know damn well it’s gonna be bad.”
Yeah, it is. But I’m kind of looking forward to driving Mav a little crazy tonight. I like that dark side of him. I can’t wait to see it again. Giving Lily free reign means I’ll be seeing it in spades tonight, which suits me just fine. I want more of what we just shared.
And yet it scares me how much.
Courage to confess what makes us weak is a strength not many possess.
MAVERICK
The awkward dance Edge, Dozer, and I play around the table upon first walking into church is almost comical. No one knows where the fuck to sit.
Finally, Septic who looks tired as hell after completing a twelve-hour shift watching Cap grumbles, “Just sit the fuck down. Nobody gives a damn where. That’s exactly the shit we’re here to sort out.”
The president chair remains open and everyone takes their normal seats around the table, except Edge. Dozer takes his VP chair, to Cap’s left. I take my usual seat to his right. It’s where I’ve sat since Griz was diagnosed, and became secretary. The brothers move in another chair beside Dozer for Edge.
Ordinarily sitting across the table from D wouldn’t be a problem, but it is today. He’s mad-doggin’ me. The veins on his arms pop with how he’s gripping his chair, as if he’d love nothing better than to duke it out right here and now.
“What?” I bite out and pop my chin at him. “I told you it was done . . . over. Leave her alone and we’re not gonna have a problem.”
“And if I don’t?”
Griz slaps the table. “We’re not here to deal with your bullshit. Both of ya are damn lucky Cap’s not around to see y’all brawlin’ in the yard over a woman. He would‘a kicked both your asses blue.” Griz shakes his head disapprovingly.
Edge turns to Dozer. “What’d I say? We got more important business to discuss than this petty shit goin’ on between you two.” Looking between us he orders, “There’s obviously still some bad blood, but it needs to get sorted. Take it to the ring and put an end to it. Tonight. Clear?”
“Let me just say somethin’.” Griz meets my eyes and then let’s his gaze travel over to D. “Somethin’ you young dumb fuckers need to get through your thick fuckin’ skulls once and for all. We don’t fight over a woman. When brothers do that kind of shit, you rip this club apart. We all agreed to live by a code. This club and everyone in it comes first. United, we live, ride, and fall. We do that, we survive together. We don’t, we fall together. You don’t believe in that no more . . . You don’t want to honor it . . . Then get the fuck out.”
His last words echo in the silence, or at least they do in my mind.
Griz rubs his hand over a couple of his rings and then knocks his knuckles on the table. “One more thing and then I’ll shut my old mouth. I get why you’re angry, brother,” he says to D. “Mav’s stole somethin’ good from us all and took it for his own.” Surprise rockets through me and I stare over at Griz. “So hand his ass to him, settle up in blood, and be done with it. But, brother, it also needs to be said so there’s no miss understandin’. You are gonna leave her alone. She’s been claimed. She’s where she wants to be. We all see that. So from now on, she’s off your radar. She belongs to a brother and that’s that. You got me?”
Through the speech, Dozer’s eyes continue to blaze with fury, but the tension slowly drains out of his body. When Griz finishes, and after a moment more of heavy silence, D looks at me. “Tonight, we’ll settle up. You and me. Then it’ll be done.”
I nod. Elation rolls like a cool breeze of wind through my chest. All I can think about is that the club just recognized Ember as my old lady and not one brother had any objection to that. I couldn’t give a fuck that I have to pay for deceiving Dozer in blood. I’d pay any price.
“We got real shit to discuss now. Yes. Because . . . fuck . . . I’m about five minutes from passin’ out on this fuckin’ table,” Septic mutters. He runs his hands vigorously over his face then sweeps them through his dark hair that hits his shoulders.
Clearing my throat, I say, “Then let’s get to it.”
All eyes turn to me. “Checked with Whiz this morning. No hide or hair of our boy Henry since his credit card popped up near that cabin. The guy’s vanished.”
“I still think someone got to him first,” Taz adds.
“One overturned lamp doesn’t mean shit,” Dozer fires back. “Could just be they left in a hurry.”
“Okay, so we got a ghost for a witness who knows how to hide like he’s in witness protection. Sounds fishy to me. What else we got?” Edge asks. “Does the guy have a relative we can push for info? Someone who might know where he is?”
Taz says, “He’s got a sister. That’s whose credit card he was usin’. So we know for sure she knows somethin’s up.”
“Okay,” Edge nudges D. “You and Taz, what do you say you head out in the mornin’ and go pay her a friendly visit? And I do mean friendly. Scare her enough and she’ll probably give him up.” To Taz he asks, “She got kids?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. She has some motivation. Remember . . .” His gaze hardens and narrows on T. “Friendly.”
Taz casts a glance my way and I give him a subtle nod. With there not being an official president leading this club, I don’t question his needing assurance.
“I want to know everything. Everything you couldn’t tell me while on the inside,” Edge addresses the group. “About Cap and that night. About where the club stands. What business we got runnin’ and what we’re pushin’ through.”
Half the table tenses up. There’s another weighty pause. Edge is ballsy, always was. He’s a born leader like Cap, but impatient like me. But for some of these brothers, the newer patch holders, him not being around for five years means they don’t know him and don’t trust him. They’re probably questioning whether we should simply open our mouths and books to him so easily. Our lives, our freedom are at stake. Putting trust in the wrong person in this kind of life is costly.
I can see Stone and Diesel askin’ themselves. What if his loyalty’s changed while on the inside?
But it hasn’t. Edge is straight up a HOC. He lives and breathes it. He may be a Marine, and patriot, and but not enough to sell us out. He served because that’s what he was raised to do. He was following in his dead father’s footsteps, the same way Dozer followed in Cap’s. Both of them were trying to be the hero Cap was. But truth be told, he’s more Cap’s son than Dozer is. Through and through.
I speak up to lay some of the fears at rest. My gaze circles around the table. “Tell him anything he needs to know about where we stand. Half of you fuckers want him to lead in Cap’s stead. Well, he’s gonna need to know everything in order to do that.”
Griz backs me up. “Agreed.”
Dozer too by moving the conversation on. “We’ve questioned everyone in or around the area where it happened. But all the businesses were closed and not a lot a people are out on that stretch of road at three in the mornin’. Perez gave us any leads he had. Followed them. Trail’s as cold as a witch’s tit. We got nothin’ new besides the tip Mav got on the witness.”
“Where’d it happen?”
“On 314. That stretch of bare land right before the Palace West,” I answer.
“Where was he goin’?” Edge asks.
“Takin’ Becca home, I expect,” Griz states.
“Tell me the rest.” Edge chin lifts to me.
“Shot four times. Once while ridin’. Took one in the shoulder. I assume it distracted him enough he didn’t see spikes laid out on the road. The bike hit ’em, and went down. Turf ate ’em both up. Becca got the worst of it. The side of her skull shattered upon impact. Neither of ’em was wearing a helmet.”
“He crawled to her after,” Griz says gruffly. “Fifteen fuckin’ feet. Shot, and sufferin’ from a broken leg, ribs, and a dislocated shoulder.”
I add, “That’s where he was shot three more times in the chest at close range. EMT’s said he flat-lined twice on the way to the hospital. Doc said he doesn’t understand how he made it. That he’s fuckin’ lucky to be alive.”
Edge has already been updated on Cap’s condition but some of the patch members from the other chapters are still waiting for word, so might as well fill everyone in at once. “His doctor thinks he’s gonna wake up any day now. But it’ll be a long road to recovery. Warned us he may never ride again.” At that, every brother in the room lowers his head out of respect. Septic makes the sign of the cross.
“So someone who wanted him dead knew his route and waited for him on a stretch of desert where no one would hear or see anything?” asks Edge.
“Yeah. Leaves us with not much to find this motherfucker,” adds Taz.
“What about Cap? We need to worry about another hit?”
“Got a two-man crew on him twenty-four-seven.”
Edge looks to Griz. “Tell ’em what you told me.”
By the look of resignation on Griz’s face, he doesn’t appear happy about what he’s gotta say. “Ramble’s been keepin’ an eye and ear open, and he heard Pappy’s got Bones and Creature searchin’ for someone. Word is this person’s a problem for the GBs and got a price on their head. Pappy wants them taken out. Ramble thinks it’s got shit to do with business and is somethin’ personal.”
“Why does he’s think that?” Taz asks.
“Because Pappy’s made it clear Smoke isn’t to catch word of it.”
This news sinks in. What . . . trouble in paradise?
Goose clears his throat and sits forward. We all look over. He palms his goatee as his mind works. “Maybe Pappy had one of his boys take out Cap. Get him outta the picture, so they can move into New Mexico while we’re searchin’ for a ghost, and leaderless? Either that or could be someone went behind his back and pulled the trigger, and he’s cleanin’ up the mess before anyone catches wind of it. Smoke’s got just as much loyalty to Cap as Pappy. Maybe that’s why he’s keepin’ it close to his chest. Word gets out they had somethin’ to do with takin’ down Cap; it’d mean war between us, and a fall out between them.”
He stops handling his goatee and his gaze travels around the table. “Did anyone else notice that Smoke sure as hell brought a shit load of GBs for a simple visit? I mean . . . if Pappy wants to keep whatever he’s doin’ quiet, he’s smart by sending most of the club away. Less people finding out what he’s doin’ if they’re not around. Another thing that’s buggin’ me. Why is Deed’s here and not with his sick momma? If that’s really the truth of why Pappy stayed behind.”
This right here is why Goose is an asset. As an ex-Ranger, he sees complex problems from more angles than the average man. Thinks on a higher level than the rest of us.
“If it’s Pappy, he’s been planning this for a while,” Taz growls.
Griz curses and starts coughing. When the fit’s done, he points at T. “Don’t go shootin’ your mouth off. I get where Goose is comin’ from. He’s layin’ it out for us. But we can’t point the finger and go jumpin’ head first into a war with the Greenbacks, without fuckin’ proof. We got nothin’ that ties this shit to them, or anyone else.”
“Did Ramble say anything else?”
Griz sits back with a frown and shakes his head.
“You really don’t think he did this?” Taz, ever the mouth, can’t let it lie.
“You younger fucker’s just don’t get it. So let me explain it to you. Cap saved Pappy and Smoke from a Viet Cong jungle camp. He’s the only reason they made it out of Nam alive. If it wasn’t for Cap, the best those two could have hoped for was dyin’ or rottin’ for years like me in the Hanoi Hilton. And it wasn’t no fuckin’ picnic boys. It wasn’t anything like the kind of war you’ve seen.” Griz motions to Dozer, Edge, Bodie, and Goose. “I lived in my own filth for more days than I care to say. I can’t ever look at rope again without throwin’ the fuck up.”
He eyeballs Taz. “They both owe Cap their lives, and they know it. I can tell you right now, Pappy didn’t give the order to have Cap taken out,” Griz states, and then proceeds to say, “Cap would laugh in your fuckin’ face for even thinkin’ it.”
“Then maybe another GB went behind his back.”
“Now that’s possible. He’s spread thin and he’s got more members than he knows what to do with.”
“So maybe he caught wind of it and he’s tryin’ to get rid of the evidence. Either way that still fuckin’ makes the GBs guilty and—”
Griz half stands and leans over the table toward Taz. “Boy, I’ve had about enough outta you.”
Edge puts his hand on Taz, which Taz quickly throws off in a huff.
Griz sits back down.
“If it’s this Henry guy they’re lookin’ for, how’d they catch wind of him?” Goose asks.
“Either they tapped the same source we got it from or someone’s talkin’.”
Taz stares straight across the table at Griz.
Griz growls and mutters how he’s gonna kick Taz’s punk tattooed ass.
I slap Griz’s back. “No one is questionin’ your loyalty. But there is a little too much club business and other shit bein’ whispered in ears outside of this room. Someone’s got flappy lips. Plus, we got a guy fillin’ us in on their movements. Not a big leap to think they’ve probably got someone here doin’ the same. Not sayin’ it’s a brother, but we gotta stop talkin’ about business outside of the Chapel.”
Everyone nods in agreement, some brothers rap their knuckles on the table.
Edge sighs. “The last thing we need right now is doubt and speculation circlin’ in the club. I’ve been back a day and already I can see this club’s on shaky ground. Look at us. At each other’s throats. Fightin’ brothers. Questionin’ a founder like he’s some prospect.” He spears Taz with a glare. “Whoever took Cap down, wanted to fuck with the club. They’ve done that. We’re not gonna let ’em crowbar our asses apart.”
Goose chin lifts. “Edge is right. And our focus needs to be on figurin’ out who’s leadin’ this motherfuckin’ train, protectin’ Cap, and pullin’ our shit together. Once that’s done, we have a sit down with Pappy and Smoke, on their turf if that’s what it’s gonna take. We can go under the pretense we want more details about a GB chapter here and what that means for us all. But we subtly let it slip we got a witness we’re interrogating and see if Pappy reacts, or ask for their help in findin’ this Henry guy and see if they really go lookin’. Either way it’ll put Smoke on notice, and tell us if Pappy knows somethin’. Because you can bet your ass if he knows about it, he’s gonna react. No finger pointing necessary.”
