by K. A. Ware
“Got church,” I said, stepping into a clean pair of jeans. I still had to figure out what I was going to do with my clothes from the night before. What Rabbit said made sense, trusting a club whore to handle something so important was a dumbass move.
“M’kay,” she said on a yawn, pulling the covers up under her chin and burrowing into my vacated pillow.
I frowned at the loss of her bare tits but didn’t say as much, just happy she wasn’t busting my balls for skipping out so early. When I finished getting ready, I walked over to the bed, bending to kiss the top of her head.
She sighed, rolling to her back and sleepily blinking up at me. “What time is it?”
“Just before eight, go back to sleep. Should be done in an hour or so.” I couldn’t resist leaning down to kiss her lips, still puffy from sleep.
She moaned, sliding a hand around the back of my neck and deepening the kiss. All too soon, I pulled away, cursing the fact that Chains felt it necessary to call church so damn early on a Saturday. “Sleep, I’ll be back soon.”
“Go do your thing,” she said, her eyes already closed as she absently waved a hand in my direction.
Stepping into the hall, I spotted Jester coming out of his room a few doors down at the same time. The way he slipped into the hall, closing and locking his door quickly behind him gave me pause. Sure, Jester was a private guy, but I’d never seen him act like he had something to hide. “You pick up a stray?” I called out, startling him.
His head snapped up, and if I wasn’t mistaken a look of panic flashed across his face. “What?”
I wondered if whatever he was hiding was what he wanted to talk about. “Need my help kicking out another stage five clinger?”
His eyes darted to the closed door and back to me, his posture stiff. “Nah, I’m good, brother. Just a chick I picked up at the bar.”
“You let her stay?”
Jester lifted a massive shoulder and let it fall. “She’s cool. Besides, nothin’ like some mornin’ pussy to start the day off right.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” I laughed, but it was fake. Jester was lying. He’d hung back with Z to bury the dead Sinners. There was no way he’d gotten back to town in time to hit up a bar.
Something was up with him, but with all the other shit on my plate, I decided to let it go, at least for the moment. “What’d you want to talk about?”
He ran a hand through his mussed black hair. His lips pressed together in a grim line. “Last night, shit was fucked up, man. The only people who knew where the exchange was happening last night wore a Knights patch. The Sinners were waiting for us, and they’re way too disorganized to have surveillance. Hate to say it, but someone told them where we were going to be.”
I sighed and leaned against the wall. “Thought the same thing,” I said, staring at the ceiling. Chains, my father, and Jester were the only people besides myself that knew we were keeping the Chinese in the dark about the exact route and drop points from the time we picked up the product at the docks to the last exchange just south of the Canadian border. It hadn’t been by design or anything. It was a last-minute decision in case the Sinners still had any friends in Johnny’s crew. Part of me wished I hadn’t made the call, at least then we’d have some hope that the leak didn’t happen from the inside.
“The hell are we going to do?” Jester asked.
I blew out a breath and pushed off the wall. “We’re gonna go talk to Chains before church starts.”
I prayed our current president had a plan because the shitstorm that had been brewing was about to make landfall and if we weren’t careful, there might not be a club for me to lead when the dust settled.
We made our way down the hall in silence, the knowledge that one of our own betrayed us weighing heavy on our shoulders. Chains and my father were standing in front of the chapel doors. Heads bent together and deep in conversation.
“Can we have a word?” I asked. The two older men looked up, faces grave, as we approached.
At least we won’t have to convince them we have a problem.
Chains lifted his chin and stepped inside the chapel. We each dropped our phones in the cedar box hanging on the wall outside the door and followed him inside. My father closed the door and slid the lock home before taking his place at Chains’ side.
“Take it you boys came to the same conclusion Rigs, and I did?” Chains asked, leaning back in his chair.
Jester and I shared a look before nodding. “Someone’s talking to the Sinners. Question is, did the leak come from Spokane or us?”
“Nomads were there too. You think we need to worry ‘bout them?” Pops asked.
Jester made a disapproving noise as he lit a cigarette and shook his head. “Nah, they met up with us outside of Kelso, followed us in from there. By the time they knew where we were going, it would’ve been too late for them to tip off the Sinners.”
Chains ran a hand over his mostly gray goatee. “Which just leaves our guys and Hash’s men. So, who’s the rat?”
“I can’t imagine it’s one of our guys.” As soon as I said the words, I began to doubt my conviction. There were plenty of brothers that hadn’t agreed with getting involved in drugs, but would they be willing to betray their club for it?
“Bet Hash thinks the same thing,” Pops challenged.
Resting my head in my hands, I groaned. “Z’s solid, he’d never turn his back on the club, or Frogger—he’s the only family Z has left.”
Jester pulled the glass ashtray in the middle of the table to him and nodded. “I agree with Baz. This is about making a quick buck turning the stolen product or a power grab. Z doesn’t give a shit about either, not his style.”
“Power grab?” Chains asked, tilting his head slightly as he watched Jester.
Jester looked down at the table for a beat before lifting his gaze back up to Chains. “Yeah, Harley filled me in on your diagnosis. Sorry to hear it, boss.”
Chains grunted and waved a heavy hand. “Appreciate it, brother, but I’m an old bastard, if it wasn’t cancer it would’ve been something else. Since you brought up my daughter, were you planning on telling me about that?”
“What?” Jester’s head reared back like he’d been punched.
Chains narrowed his eyes on Jester, staring at the younger man for a long minute before speaking. “The accident. That breathalyzer was a genius move. Blondie said she was spittin’ mad, but at least she’ll be safe.”
Jester cleared his throat. “Right, sorry boss, just didn’t want you to have to worry about it.”
“Breathalyzer?” I asked, looking from Jester to Chains, confused.
Pops barked out a laugh, smacking the table in front of him. “This fucker had Risa put one in Harley’s car while it was in the shop.”
“No shit?” I asked, looking at my best friend.
Jester just shrugged.
“Just watch your back, I’m sure you’ll catch an earful at the cookout tomorrow,” Chains chuckled before sobering. “So, what were you saying about a power grab?”
Snubbing out his cigarette, Jester addressed Chains directly. “If someone found out that you were planning on stepping down they might see it as an opportunity. Baz is the obvious choice for the gavel, and he’s the one that brought the deal with the Chinese to the table. Fucking with the runs might be their way of trying to discredit Baz, putting themselves in a better place to contest your choice.”
“Fucking hell,” I groaned, burying my face in my hands. We were wading knee deep in shit, the last thing we needed was a fucking power struggle.
Pulling my shit together, I sat up, focusing on one problem at a time. “So, Z’s out. Rooster’s as loyal as they come. As long as he’s got a line of pussy waitin’ on him, he’s not gonna rock the boat. That leaves Ox for our crew.”
Pops shook his head sharply. “I know Ox has had a hard-on for the Chinese since Johnny took over, but I just can’t see him fucking with the club over it.”
“But Ox
has been up Baz’s ass since he took over communications with Johnny. Resents the fuck outta gettin’ bumped off that responsibility,” Jester countered.
I couldn’t argue, Ox had a chip on his shoulder, we couldn’t rule him out as a possibility. “Hash knows about your plan to step down and nominate me, but he has no reason to want me out of play. If this shit falls on any of the Spokane boys, it’s gonna be about money. They’ve got nothin’ to gain with an open gavel in our charter.”
Chains sighed heavily, suddenly looking years beyond his age. “Need to rule out our guys first. I’ll feed the table some bogus intel, and we’ll wait. If it doesn’t produce anything then we know the leak isn’t coming from our charter, if it does, things get a little more complicated.”
Complicated.
If we had a rat in the mother charter, it would be a hell of a lot more than complicated.
“In the meantime, what are we going to do about the Sinners? Can’t let the shit that happened last night, stand. Even if someone gave them the info, they still need to pay,” Jester said, pulling out another cigarette from his pack.
He hardly ever chain-smoked, something was definitely up with him. For a split second, I let my mind wander to a dark place where Jester could betray me, but I quickly shook it off. Jester didn’t care about power or money. He sat at the table for the brotherhood and nothing else.
Chains nodded and leaned back in his chair. “Agreed, the question is how do we strike back, and how hard?”
Seeing my opportunity, I sat a little straighter and leaned in. “The Sinners have proven to be a bigger problem than we originally thought. After last night, I think we need to look at a permanent solution. We can’t afford to let them go unchecked anymore.”
“You talkin’ patch over?” Pops asked, his eyebrows furrowing.
“There’s no way. Hash said they’ve been recruiting whoever they can off the street, we can’t have a bunch of wildcards out there wearing our cut,” Jester said, echoing my thoughts exactly.
“I agree with Jester. Patch over isn’t an option in this case.” I looked between my father and Chains, knowing they would both understand the weight of what I was proposing. “The way I see it, there’s only one solution. They need to go to ground. All of them.”
Silence descended as my words sunk in. What I was suggesting was unprecedented. In all the years of listening to the old timers tell old war stories, never once had I heard of an entire club being wiped off the map.
Jester, always having my back, was the first to break the silence. “How?”
“Only way it works is if we hit all the charters at once. It’s gonna take time and a lot of planning, but I think we can do it.”
My dad leaned forward, his thumb tapping out a beat on the table. “How many charters do they even have?”
I’d asked Frogger to pull as much information on the Sinners as he could after our first run in with them. He hadn’t come up with much, but he was able to get me the basics at least. “Five. Tacoma, Boise, Eugene, Fresno, and Missoula. With how they’ve been recruiting, there’s no way to know how many total members without surveillance.”
Pops pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut. “Even if we take care of the rat and get all our chapters to agree, we don’t have the manpower to hit them all at once.”
“You’re right. We don’t. Hash said they’ve been causing trouble up north as well, I’d venture to guess we’re not the only toes they’ve been stepping on. I say we reach out to the Iron Savages and Renegade Disciples, they’re friendly clubs, and they both have charters close to the Sinners. If they’ve been causing the same kind of problems in California and Montana as they have been here and up north, we might be able to enlist their help,” I offered. It wasn’t ideal, but it would give us the numbers we needed to pull this thing off clean.
Chains shared a look with my father before turning his attention back to me. “That’s a big ask.”
I nodded in agreement. “It is, but if they’re having the same problems, might be one they’re willing to jump on. Let me at least reach out.”
Running a hand down his goatee, Chains observed me for a moment before nodding. “Fine, feel ‘em out, but don’t tell them what you’re thinking just yet. We’ve got a charity poker run coming up in a couple of weeks. If we have a solid plan by then, we can bring it to Hash and the rest of the chapter presidents. If they agree, we can bring in the Savages and Disciples.”
“I can do that.”
“Good, this plan stays with us until we figure out who the leak is,” Chains said, the dark circles under his eyes the only indication of his exhaustion. “Let the rest of the boys in and let’s get this shit over with.”
Jester got up to open the door, and I watched my brothers in various degrees of hungover, file in. As Ox ducked into the room, I caught his eye, but he looked away quickly. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of guilt.
Nineteen
FINLEY
A prospect I didn’t recognize waved me past the front gate to the Knight’s compound, early Sunday afternoon. Bikes lined the blacktop in front of the clubhouse, and several more vehicles were parked in the gravel lot just beyond the garage. Butter stood at the end of the blacktop and directed me to park next to a giant black SUV.
“Need help with anything?” Butter asked, running up to the car just as I was stepping out. It was an unusually warm spring day, and I had to shield my eyes from the sun.
“Sure, I’ve got potato salad in the back,” I said, hitting the button on my key fob to pop the trunk. Stella had made it the night before, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. After the little dinner party stunt she’d pulled, I would happily take the credit.
Butter helped me carry two giant bowls of potato salad into the clubhouse and out the back to a deck I hadn’t noticed before. Coming off the back of the building, it overlooked a generous side yard where a couple of kids were kicking around a soccer ball.
I’d just set down my bowl among the massive spread of food when I felt arms come around me from behind. “Hey, gorgeous.”
Turning in his arms, I linked my fingers behind Baz’s neck and smiled up at him. “Hey, there.”
“Glad you decided to come.”
“Well, you did promise to make me come the other way later, so it wasn’t a difficult decision.”
Baz laughed, bending to claim my mouth as if he hadn’t just seen me that morning. Not wanting to leave Stella alone two nights in a row, I’d given in and let Baz stay over at the house. In all honesty, it didn’t take much convincing. Stella hadn’t even batted an eye at it, which I was both surprised and relieved about.
“Come on, I want to introduce you to some people,” Baz said, stepping back and taking my hand.
He led me through the crowd, introducing me to a few of his brothers and their wives and girlfriends. I met Mick, a tall blond man with crystal blue eyes and his daughter Sydney who was an exact replica of him in ten-year-old girl form. After a brief conversation, Baz steered me toward yet another group of people.
After making the rounds and grabbing a plate of food, Baz led me to a picnic table just beyond the madness of the party. I noticed Risa standing on the deck with a man wearing a cut. They were signing to each other, but both of them looked frustrated as their hands flew. “Are they arguing?”
Baz followed my gaze and snorted. “Risa and Frogger are always arguing about something.”
“Oh, how long have they been together?” I asked, stabbing a piece of watermelon with my fork.
He shook his head, taking a bite of his burger. “They’re not. They’re just huge nerds.”
What the hell did that mean?
“You lost me.”
Baz sighed and wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. “You name it, book, movie, video game, they know it, and they’ll find a way to argue about it—biggest fuckin’ eggheads I’ve ever met. When Frogger was first learning to sign, I had to interpret an entire debate on w
hether Sirius Black or Fred Weasley was the most traumatic death in the Harry Potter books. Frogger had to learn fast because, after that, I refused to keep playing go-between.”
I laughed, looking back over to where the two were still bickering. They had turned, and I could see Frogger more clearly. He was tall and lanky with tattoos covering every visible surface of skin from his jawline down. I’d say he looked intimidating if he wasn’t laughing at something Risa had said. The way his face lit up and his smile took over his entire face made it impossible for him to look scary.
“So, what was the verdict? Sirius or Fred?” I asked, turning back to my food. I’d been so nervous about the party, I hadn’t eaten all day.
Baz’s eyebrows crept up his forehead. “Neither, everyone knows Dumbledore’s death was the worst.”
I choked on a strawberry and Baz pounded on my back until I could breathe again. “You read the Harry Potter books?”
He gave me a strange look. “I’m twenty-eight, I grew up during Potter mania. Of course I read the books.”
I felt kind of stupid for making assumptions, but I’d just washed another man’s blood off his clothes the day before, how was I supposed to know he was into children’s literature. “I guess I didn’t peg you for a big reader.”
“You guessed wrong.”
“I stand corrected, we all have our quirks, right?” I nudged Baz with my elbow, and he smiled down at me.
“What’s yours?” he asked, draining his beer.
“My what? Quirks?”
Baz nodded before reaching over to grab another beer from the cooler behind us.
“I don’t know that I have any actually. Well, unless you count being cheap. Penny pinching is my superpower.”
Baz’s eyebrows pulled down. “You don’t make good money dancing? Thought you were sittin’ pretty good.”
“Oh, I do. I’m not broke. I’m just cheap.” I shrugged, taking a sip of beer before continuing. “I grew up super poor, like the electricity was turned off more than it was turned on, poor. When I came to Portland for school, I was broke, so I started dancing. It was so weird, I finally had money to buy things I’d always gone without, but I was too afraid of not having the money to spend it. I’ve always been super careful with my finances, only spending what I need to. That’s how I bought my house, I saved like crazy and put a huge down payment on it.”
