That was how I knew Rachel.
She’d been dragged here as a tiny nine-year-old. All skin and bone, in need of a good meal or eight. Not unsurprisingly, Rachel’s momma had run off a few years later, leaving Axel with a toddler and Rachel to raise.
The toddler was now a senior in high school, and Rain was one of the kids I was hoping I could veer into the police academy. Rachel would like that. She’d be happier with her brother as a cop than as a brother and, God help me, I wanted Rachel to be happy.
At the moment, Rachel was not happy. She was scowling at her screen, even if she was doing so neatly. In a navy pantsuit that was designed to augment every line of her body, in sleek court shoes that I’d give my left testicle to feel digging into my ass as I screwed her, and a hot pink blouse—the only thing truly feminine about her outfit—that was cut low in front, revealing a pair of tits I wanted to fuck, she was everything I’d ever wanted and the only woman I didn’t know if I’d ever get.
She had dark red hair, like a fine burgundy wine, and it was cut in a pristine, longer-length bob that shivered along her shoulders when she moved her head. Her velvety brown eyes were narrowed on her cell, her coffee brown painted lips were pursed too. Everything about her screamed irritated, and hell if I didn’t want to fuck her into a good mood.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as I headed around my desk and took a seat.
Slowly enough to piss me off, she averted her attention from the screen and gave it to me. “Donavan Lancaster is driving me insane.”
“Why?” Nyx demanded, taking a seat on the edge of my desk.
I loved how she didn’t flinch in the face of his annoyance. Rachel had guts, and that turned me on all the more where she was concerned.
“Why? Because he’s managing to break three sets of state laws and nobody gives a fuck about it.” Her nostrils flared, then she blew out a breath and stated grimly, “But I’ve taught him a lesson his ‘Park, Hyde, Lawrence, & Lawrence’ lawyers won’t forget in a hurry.”
I cocked a brow—it was either that or smile at her, and I knew if I did that my left ball really would be on the fucking line. “How?”
She curled her top lip. “You don’t need to know the intricacies of the game we’ve been playing. You pay me for results.” She jerked her chin up. “I got you them.”
“What results?” Nyx growled. “Explain.”
“The detectives Lancaster ‘brought’ in to investigate, every single piece of evidence they’ve hauled in, can no longer be used in court.”
My eyes widened at that and I jerked forward in my seat. “You’re shitting me.”
“No. I’m not. They were out of their jurisdiction, which we already knew. I thought maybe they were working on the fact the bar is close to the county line, but nope. He just brought them in like they were private fucking detectives. How?”
“How?” I repeated, knowing that was what she wanted from me.
“Because he twisted the mayor’s arm.” She smirked. “Guess what’s happening within the next three months? All because of little old me.”
My lips twisted. “Please tell me he’s been tossed out and there’s going to be an election?”
She grinned. “Yeah. Damn straight.” Her phone buzzed and she gave it a quick glance. “Election year wasn’t until next year, but did you still want the plans we had arranged put into place?”
“What plans?” Nyx questioned, shooting me a look.
“I want James Lacey for mayor.”
Nyx scowled. “Lacey? He’s a fucking ass-licking schmuck.”
Rachel snorted. “Ass-licking is the word. He’s worse than our Link.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She opened her phone up, did some tapping, then passed the cell over to Nyx. When he saw the images Rachel’s team had worked hard to attain, he let out a laugh. “He’s into transsexuals?”
“Yup. Can’t see that going down well with the sticklers around here, can you?” Rachel retorted, a sniff in her voice because she didn’t approve of homophobia. Her two best friends were gay, and she’d been at their side in high school when most of the fascists in her year gave them hell.
“Not at all,” Nyx crowed as he tossed the phone back to her. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”
“I have a couple of million I’m willing to donate to his electoral campaign,” I told him.
“A couple of million?” Rachel scoffed. “For a penny-ante campaign?”
I shrugged. “You never know what can turn up. We got those pictures, only God knows who else did.”
“You’re giving them as anonymous donations, right?” Nyx demanded.
“‘Course I am. What the fuck do you take me for? They’re going through dummy corporations. When he’s elected, then he’ll find out who his Daddy Warbucks is.”
Rachel rolled her eyes. “You should have been governor.”
I knew she was being sarcastic, but also knew she meant it. She insisted I was wasting my life here, and maybe I was, but it was my life to waste, wasn’t it?
I caught her eye and didn’t stop holding her gaze until her mouth firmed and she ducked down to look at her phone—likely story. She never could out stare me.
“So, what does this mean for Giulia?” Nyx pressed, his attention twitching between me and her. He knew how I felt about her. Knew it and hadn’t understood it before. I had to wonder if now, after Giulia, he got it.
The need to care for someone so much that you purposely took a backseat in shit, letting them do what they wanted so they’d be happy.
I’d always been a selfish man, but with Rachel? I was like a fucking saint.
“It’s good and it’s bad. They’ll be reopening the investigation, which means she’ll have to be reinterviewed. But the investigation will be under the sheriff’s jurisdiction, and he’s on our payroll.”
“Link told me the Lancasters are trying to bring him to their side.”
I studied Nyx. “When did he tell you that?”
“He’s…” His brow puckered. “Well, I’m not entirely sure what the fuck he’s doing with Lancaster’s daughter. Link just said that Lily was supposed to bring him onto their team.”
I rubbed my jaw. “Are they dating?”
“Link? Dating?” Rachel snorted. “Have pigs started flying?”
“Maybe. Over West Orange, at any rate,” Nyx said dryly. “Haven’t you noticed, Rex? He goes out at all hours to meet up with her. She’s under lock and key pretty much.”
“He’s pulling his weight at the garage, right?”
“Of course,” Nyx scoffed. “Hell, Link is as dedicated to the MC as any of the council.”
Worse still, though a lot didn’t see it, Link had a good fucking heart. I thought back to our earlier conversation about Ghost and her sister, and how he’d gone out of his way to find the kid for her. I thought about how Keira, Storm’s Old Lady, confided in him about Storm, and how Link knew almost everyone’s business in the MC, and concern flittered through me.
“Nyx? Grab Link. I want to talk to him.”
Nyx shrugged but edged off the table. “Two minutes.”
I dipped my chin in understanding, then rocked back in my seat, my focus veering onto shit I didn’t really need to be thinking about.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
Rachel’s voice penetrated my focus, and I let my gaze drift over the office that hadn’t changed in a long time and back to her. She was a damn sight prettier than this room, but I couldn’t gape at her without her glaring at me.
I’d have liked to be short with her, wanted to snap at her and ask her why she was interested when she didn’t give a fuck about the Sinners, but that was bullshit. She was made to be my Old Lady. Born to give a shit about this place. She was just resistant to the idea, and because I wasn’t ready for what we would be together, I was as hesitant as she was for the next step.
Knowing your future while you were still in the present was weird. It didn’t smooth shi
t over, didn’t help you along the way. If anything, it was an inconvenience. Rachel was my inconvenience and I was hers. Even if I’d kill for her, even if she’d kill for me…we weren’t ready for what we’d have.
Not yet.
“Link cares too much. He’s soft.”
She sighed. “He isn’t the weakest link anymore.”
I grunted, hating that she knew the history of this place as well as I did. “I know he isn’t.”
“You fuckers had to remind him of back then with his road name, didn’t you? I mean, God forbid you let sleeping dogs lie.”
“Sometimes, it’s not a bad thing to be reminded of your most major fuck ups. It keeps a man from wandering.”
“If you think that, then why all the concern?”
“Because Link is my brother, and I want to make sure she isn’t selling him down the river.”
“I can see the sense in that.”
“Thanks,” I said dryly. “Your confidence in me makes me feel so good about myself.”
She narrowed her eyes, and I could almost predict the snark that was headed my way when a knock sounded at the door and Nyx trudged in, Link at his back.
“Yo, Rach.”
“Hey, Link.” She shot him a smile that he returned with a wink that had her smile deepening. Rachel had a soft spot for Link. Fuck, most of the women did.
“What’s up, Prez?” Link asked, arms folded across his chest when he came to a halt next to my woman. My woman, who was anointing my brothers with fucking smiles while all she gave me was goddamn glowers.
“Nothing’s wrong, Link, I just wanted to check in. Nyx said something about Lily Lancaster trying to bring the sheriff onto the family’s payroll?”
“I’ve been keeping Nyx in the loop, Rex,” Link reported warily. “Ain’t been keeping shit secret.”
“No. He hasn’t,” Nyx confirmed. “And most of the stuff I think is important has bled back to you. But shit’s been up and down since the attack and since the women came here.”
I grimaced, because that was true. “We ain’t had church since before Lancaster’s death.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Been working on fumes. Need to get shit back in line.”
Link shrugged. “Things ain’t out of control, Rex.”
“No. Not yet.” It didn’t take much for the shit to fall in an MC. So far, things had been okay because I kept everything running on a microlevel, but my attention had been divided between safeguarding Giulia, protecting the MC from the Lancasters, shoring up our business interests, both legitimate and illegitimate, and in between all that, trying to find Luke Lancaster’s captives. Hell, half the MC had been working with Mav and Storm to find the poor bitches whose circumstances would probably be in Link’s, Nyx’s, Steel’s, and Giulia’s nightmares for a lifetime.
“Stuff’s been up in the air,” Nyx replied, his statement as close to soothing as he could be. “We’ve had shit to do, but business hasn’t come to an end. All the storefronts are open and running, and we’ve a run scheduled next week that we ain’t going to postpone.”
I had to smile. “It’s okay, brothers. I don’t need you to make me feel better about the past few weeks. We’ve all been running around like chickens with their heads cut off. It’s time to get stuff back in line now.” Tightening my hands about the armrests on my chair, I stated, “What’s going on with the Lancaster girl, Link? Nyx says you’re heading off to see her whenever you can.”
Rachel teased, “Are you in love, Link?”
Link’s brow puckered, and though I knew Rachel, Nyx, and myself were expecting a joke for a reply, he didn’t give us one. If anything, he stunned us all by admitting, “I don’t know what I feel for her. Just know that—”
When he broke off, Nyx prompted, “Know what, bro?”
Link’s eyes narrowed. “She wants her old man dead.”
“What? Why?” Rachel blurted out, getting involved in shit she claimed she wasn’t goddamn interested in…yeah. Right.
He pulled a face. “She has her reasons.”
“Reasons I need to know if she’s making you side with her over the MC,” I warned.
“Fuck that, Rex. You know I don’t work like that.”
“I know you’ve got too big a heart for our own good,” I retorted.
Link’s eyes narrowed even as he stood straighter. “The family’s a mess. One big fuck up. Makes our world look normal. Lily watched her father push her mother down the damn stairs—she actually died. Then, you’ve got that sick piece of shit Luke raping maids and making Lily watch, and…”
Rachel raised a hand. “Link’s right, Rex. This is an invasion of Lily’s privacy. That kind of past isn’t something—”
“I’m the Prez of the fucking Sinners, Rachel. If we have a threat to our security, then I need to know.”
“I’m your Road Captain. Nyx and I work together to make sure nothing happens to us. You think I’m going to jeopardize that?” Link shouted.
“I think if someone tells you a sob story you believe, you’ll do everything you can to help them.” My tone was softer now. “That ain’t a flaw, Link. It means you’re a good man. But we have to think of the club.”
“How about you bring Lily in, Link? It’s her story to share,” Rachel soothed, reaching over to grab Link’s hand and squeezing it when she pried it off his bicep…a bicep he’d been clenching so he could stop himself from decking me.
“Lily’s under armed guard twenty-four seven.”
“What the fuck is she? A presidential candidate?” Nyx groused.
I rolled my eyes, but hell if he wasn’t wrong. “How are you seeing her if she’s under lock and key all the time?”
“Lancaster’s away on business.” He scowled at me, his defiance amping up in a way that made me feel like I was his damn father rather than his Prez. What the fuck did they think they were? MC Romeo and Juliet? “She’s spending time at a friend’s, and that’s where we meet up.”
Nyx pursed his lips. “She’s a potential security breach, Link.”
He cut my Enforcer a look. “I know that. Knew it all along. That’s why I started shit up with her. Make sure she wasn’t a threat. She isn’t. She hates her family as much as we do.”
“Can’t blame her with that scum for a sibling.” Rachel sniffed. “Why was Lily trying to turn the sheriff if she hates her family, Link?”
“She’s got this idea into her head and she’s sticking to her guns.”
“What idea?” Nyx inquired.
“Luke was the golden boy. Could do no wrong in her father’s eyes by the sound of it. She wasn’t going to inherit anything other than what she’d received after her mom’s death.”
“Now that Luke’s dead, she’ll be in line to inherit it all.”
At Rachel’s statement, Link shook his head. “I don’t think so. If that was the case, then Lily wouldn’t be trying to manipulate him.”
“How’s she trying to do that? And is it freakin’ wise when her father’s a goddamn murderer?”
“Seems like she needs to improve the company she’s keeping then,” Link remarked drolly. “We’ve all got blood on our hands, Prez. You saying we’re not trustworthy?”
Because he wasn’t wrong, I sighed. “You know what I mean. We don’t mean her any harm, but her father probably does. Especially if he found out that she was actively working against him.”
“She wants to inherit it all.”
“So she’s greedy?” Nyx retorted.
“Says she has plans for the money.” Link shrugged. “I thought she was bullshitting at first, but she really means to kill her father. I can’t blame her for the stuff he’s put her through—”
“Saying it’s one thing, doing is another. You know that,” I pointed out.
“True, but she means it.” He went on to explain their initial communication, how it had morphed, and what he’d learned that her father had shared with her. “The fact he knows about our dealings with the Five Points, and the fact that Lily sa
ys she’s pretty much a commodity in a business deal, makes me wonder if Lancaster has dealings with the Famiglia.”
My ears pricked at that. Hell, so did Nyx’s.
“You get in touch with Declan O’Donnelly, Nyx. See if that’s true.”
“Wouldn’t they have shared it with you if they thought that was the case?” Rachel reasoned. “Maybe he just has feelers out in police departments in the city?”
“True. But I’d like to know for sure.”
Nyx nodded. “On it.” He pulled out his phone and tapped a message, but I ignored him and switched my focus back to Link.
“You like this girl. Maybe you trust her when you shouldn’t. According to her, she wants to kill her damn father. I mean, it would make shit easier for us, but hell, that ain’t normal.” When he ground his teeth, I muttered, “Calm your horses, Link. Fuck’s sake. I want to meet her.”
“I already told you she’s under guard,” he snarled.
“And I don’t give a fuck. I want to meet her. Want to hear this straight from her because I know you, Link. You’re a bleeding heart to anything with a sweet pussy. Hell, Keira isn’t even putting out with you, and you take her side over Storm’s.”
Link’s mouth tightened. “Fuck you, Rex. I ain’t even had her sweet goddamn pussy. She’s a fucking virgin—”
“And you’re still hanging around her?” Nyx pretty much sputtered the words. “Holy fuck. You are. You haven’t screwed her yet, have you? Not even her ass.”
Link jerked his chin up. “No. I haven’t.”
“Jesus,” Rachel breathed, and her response just cemented everything.
Link was not interested in purity. He preferred dirty sluts who’d take anything he had to give them up the ass. A sweet country clubber virgin was not his style.
“Now I definitely want to talk to her. You bring her here, Link,” I ordered, aware I sounded like a hard ass, but I didn’t give a shit. Too much about this situation stank, and I needed to get to the bottom of it before Link went on the run next week.
If our dealings with the Five Points were compromised, and I was sending my boys into a stitch up? I needed to know.
If this Lancaster pussy was for real, she’d be able to tell us what we needed to know, maybe more.
Link: SATAN’S SINNERS’ MC: TWO Page 19
