“Half an hour, Drew,” I said. “I'm not screwing around. Get your shit together. This is serious. Club business, man.”
There was a momentary pause on the line, as if he was suddenly realizing I was serious. Drew was one of the guys I knew I could count on. Somebody I knew would always have my back in a pinch. We were friends and had a good relationship, but when it came down to club business, he was every bit as serious as I was.
“Be there in thirty,” he said and disconnected the call.
I set the phone down on the counter and climbed into the shower. I felt groggy. Tired. My eyes were burning and though I'd apparently gotten a decent night's sleep last night, I still felt like I wanted to do nothing more than crawl back into bed and sleep for a while longer. Or maybe have my way with Abbie again before going back to sleep.
As my thoughts turned to Abbie, I started to think about what I needed to do today – and the fact that she wasn't going to like it. But I had to deal with this whole shitstorm brewing with the Incas, while simultaneously needing to keep her safe. It was a tricky line to walk, but I needed to find a way to do it. I couldn't take care of my club if I was stopping to worry about her – and I desperately needed to take care of my club.
El Segador, leader of the Incas, had sent us a very clear message – the hands of one of my men in a box. Only, it hadn't been sent to us – it had been sent to the fucking cops. And we'd spent the better part of a day dealing with the fallout from all of that as Detective Mahoney, a man who hated me beyond all measure, had a small army of his men combing through our clubhouse.
It made me really regret the decision to climb into bed with this prick to begin with. We'd had a deal in place that would have made us all a ton of money. But it was a one-off. We were supposed to do the deal and everybody went their own ways. But El Segador didn't see it that way. He wanted more and more from me and my guys – and I wasn't about to give in to his demands.
There was no way in hell I was going to expose my guys to the risk of running black tar heroin for the Incas.
My refusal to do his bidding was something that had obviously not set very well with him because he'd been making our lives hell ever since – including not paying us for the original deal. I wanted my money – money I'd been planning on using as a means of getting out of this life – but I wasn't about to risk igniting a war between our clubs. I was trying to find a way out of this mess and still get the money we were owed, but, thus far, I was coming up empty.
What had freaked me out more than the hands, though – and those had freaked me out plenty, believe me – was that in the package sent to the cops, El Segador had included some pictures of Abbie. Pictures she'd obviously been unaware were being taken of her.
It was a second message that was perfectly clear – do what I want or she's going to get hurt.
Hence, my freak out and why I couldn't tell Abbie about it. I just had to make sure I kept her safe until this all cleared up and blew over – and I had to hope like hell it did.
I finished up my shower, dried off, and put my clothes back on. When I walked back into the living room, Abbie was still sound asleep on the couch where I'd left her. I took a moment to stop and stare at her. She looked so peaceful, so angelic, as she slept. The thought of anything happening to her churned my guts and inspired a rage inside of me that I hadn't unleashed in quite some time – a rage I really never wanted to come out again. It was a monster that had been difficult to put into a cage in the first place. If anything happened to Abbie, I wasn't sure I'd be able to cage it a second time.
I sighed softly and walked out of her apartment, locking the door behind me, and went down to the parking lot to meet my guys.
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
KING
“So what was so damn important that you had to wake me up?” Drew asked. “My head is killin' me.”
“Maybe you should stop drinking the cheap shit, then,” I said.
Drew, El, and Duke were standing next to their bikes in the parking lot. The sun was creeping higher into the sky and it was starting to get warm. I figured that, unfortunately, today was going to be a scorcher.
“What's going on, King?” Duke asked. “Drew said it was serious club shit.”
I nodded. It was serious club shit. But I also knew El and Duke weren't going to like what I was about to tell them to do any more than Abbie was going to like me doing it. But it had to be done. I couldn't be in two places at once. And more importantly, I couldn't do what I needed to go do while worrying about leaving her without somebody to look after her. I trusted these guys, though, and knew they'd do whatever it took to get the job done – even if it was one they weren't thrilled with.
“Things with the Incas are going to shit,” I said.
“There's no going to shit about it. They've gone to shit already,” El remarked.
I nodded. “True enough.”
I paused for a moment. As far as they all knew, the Incas' demand that we start running heroin for them had died on the vine and that was that. I hadn't told them El Segador was still demanding we do the job and that he was holding our money until we did it. I'd been trying to work the back channels on my own to resolve the issue. I didn't want to get them involved any more than I had to. And I sure as shit didn't want to incite a goddamn gang war over it. But that asshole wasn't cooperating and had put me in a really tough bind. And though I'd wanted to keep them out of it, I now had to put my trust in my men.
“Okay, look, the raid the cops put on the clubhouse the other day was because of the Incas,” I said.
“What in the hell did those pricks do?” El asked.
I sighed and hesitated, not wanting to share any of this information because I knew they were going to be pissed. More than pissed. And I didn't blame them. I was enraged and wanted nothing more than to put two bullets into the back of El Segador's head myself. But I had to keep my cool. We were in pretty dire circumstances and the time had come to spill everything.
“Because those pricks sent a package to the cops,” I said. “A package containing two severed hands with our club patch drawn on them.”
“Jesus Christ,” Drew muttered as El and Duke chimed in their agreement.
“Mahoney figured it was best to squeeze us for information,” I said. “And it gave him an excuse to search the clubhouse – something he's been dying to do for years.”
“Not to ask the obvious, but whose hands were they?” Duke asked.
I shook my head. “I don't know for sure,” I admitted. “But I have a feeling it's Dawkins. I haven't been able to get in touch with him for a few days now.”
I could see the tension and anger enter all three of their bodies at about the exact same time. Faces red, jaws set, eyes narrowed – my guys were ready for a fight. Dawkins was a good guy and a good friend. He'd been one of our brothers for years and to think the Incas had done something terrible to him – well, I shared their anger and desire for a fight. But I had to use my head. The club was bigger than Dawkins. Hell, it was bigger than me. And I needed to protect it as well as keep it out of a war with the Incas. I didn't want another person hurt because of the shitstorm that was swirling around us.
“If those pricks did something to one of our guys, we have to retaliate,” Drew said. “We can't have them thinking they can do something like that and not have us respond.”
I nodded. “I know. But we don't know anything yet. So let's just keep our heads for now, okay?”
“So, if we're not here to go start kicking some heads in,” El started, “what are we doing here?”
I cleared my throat. This was the part they weren't going to like. “El, I need you and Duke to stay here,” I said. “I need you both to watch Abbie.”
“Seriously?” El asked, anger coloring his voice. “You're sticking us on babysitting duty?”
“It's not like that – ”
“That's exactly what it sounds like,” Duke snapped.
“Look, guys,” I said, my o
wn frustration starting to come to the surface. “The other thing in that package with the hands the cops got were pictures of Abbie. Somebody – the same somebody who cut off and sent a pair of hands to the cops – is watching her. And I'll give you three guesses who that somebody is.”
The three men shuffled their feet and looked at one another. They knew Abbie meant something to me. That she was important to me. In all the years I'd known these guys, they'd never seen me stick with one girl more than a couple of weeks. My relationship with Abbie amused them and I'd been the butt of quite a few jokes because of it.
Which was fine. I could handle some good-natured ribbing about it. I cared about Abbie – a lot. And I wasn't ashamed of it. I didn't feel the need to hide how I felt.
“I need to go find that asshole, El Segador, and get him to back the fuck off,” I said. “But I can't leave Abbie without some protection just in case one of those pricks tries to grab her or something. And I won't leave her with somebody I don't trust.”
El and Duke looked at one another and I saw some of the anger leaving their faces. I thought I'd gotten through to them. Thankfully.
“Can I count on you guys?” I asked.
El nodded and after a moment, Duke followed suit. “Yeah,” Duke said. “You can count on us.”
“Always, bro,” El added. “You know we always got your back.”
I let out a silent sigh of relief. One hurdle down – the bigger one was still to come, though. Abbie wasn't the kind of girl who liked to be told what to do, nor did she like to be coddled or treated with kid gloves. She was feisty, that one, and thought she could take on the world. And in most cases, she'd be right. But El Segador and the Incas weren't one of those cases. They were animals. Monsters. And I didn't want her anywhere near them.
“Thank you,” I said. “You've gotta sit on her. Never let her out of your sight – ”
“C'mon, bro,” El laughed. “We know how to babysit.”
“Don't worry, man,” Duke said. “We'll keep her safe. Ain't nobody going to get a finger on her. I promise you that.”
I wanted to warn him against making promises he couldn't keep, but I appreciated the sentiment. My hope was that they'd spend the afternoon doing nothing more than wasting their time anyway. I nodded and gave them a grim smile. “I appreciate that, fellas,” I said. “More than I can tell you.”
“We're brothers,” El said. “Enough said.”
“What about me?” Drew chimed in. “What am I going to be doing in all of this?”
“You're coming with me,” I said. “And, together, we're heading into the belly of the beast.”
“The belly of the beast?” Drew said and looked confused for a moment before the light of comprehension dawned upon his face. “You aren't seriously thinking about going to the Incas' clubhouse are you?”
“Where else are we going to find El Segador?”
Drew groaned and looked like he was going to be sick – no doubt, visions of severed hands floating through his mind. “Wonderful,” he muttered.
“You guys hang here for a minute,” I said. “I'm going to go tell Abbie what's going on.”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” Duke said as the three of them had a chuckle at my expense.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
KING
“No,” Abbie snapped. “Absolutely not.”
“Come on, Abbie,” I said. “It's not that bad. You won't even notice them. I swear it.”
“King, give me a break,” she said. “You won't even tell me what's going on, you're freaking out, and now you're having two of your guys babysit me? No. Nuh uh.”
The truth of the matter was no, I didn't want to tell Abbie what was going on. The less she knew, the better. Not only did I not want to panic her about the threat to her safety, but, selfishly, I also didn't want her to know too much about my business dealings. I'd worked hard to overcome her initial misgivings and preconceived notions about me; the last thing I wanted to do was validate them by telling her I was in bed with a brutal gang who wanted me to run heroin for them.
To say that wouldn't go over well would be the understatement of the century.
At the same time, though, I needed to give her something. I was realizing I couldn't ask her to accept my guys babysitting her and not tell her why. Truthfully, she had a right to know. Hell, I would certainly want to know if somebody was threatening my life. I had to give her something and not leave her completely in the dark about it. But I also needed to walk the line between telling her too little and telling her too much, very carefully.
I sighed. “Look, there is a rival club out there,” I said, “and they're talking some serious madness right now – ”
“About what? What's going on?”
I shook my head. “I really don't know what their beef is. But they've been talking tough and making some threats,” I said. “I doubt anything will really happen, but I want to be safe and smart about it. Especially when it comes to you.”
“Am I in danger here?” she asked.
“I doubt it, Abbie. I just don't know these guys and don't really know what they're all about. I just – ”
She looked at me, her eyes wide but her expression angry. “Did they threaten you? Me? King, you're not giving me anything here. What in the hell is going on?”
I sighed again. “They didn't make any specific threats,” I said.
“Then why do you feel the need to stick me with a couple of your goons for the day?”
I was growing frustrated but knew it wasn't going to make anything better if I let myself explode. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself before responding.
“Duke and El are good men,” I said. “And I'm just being cautious. There's a lot of shit going on and I don't want you caught up in it. Better safe than sorry, right?”
Abbie looked at me, her expression one of worry mixed with irritation. “What kind of shit, King? What is going on? I need you to tell me.”
This was where I had to tread the line carefully. I didn't want to scare her, but she did have a right to know what was going on – at least, some of it. “Okay look,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “We think the Incas grabbed one of our guys – ”
Abbie let out a small gasp and her look of concern intensified. “Grabbed one of your guys? For what?”
“We don't know for sure that they did,” I said evenly. “But I haven't been able to contact one of my guys in the last couple of days and we got a…weird message from them. I'm not entirely sure what it means, but I need to find out.”
“What kind of message? What did they say?”
I sometimes forgot that Abbie could be a bulldog when she got her teeth into something. She wasn't one who was going to let it go now that I'd opened up that can of worms. But I couldn't give her all of the details. I wouldn't. It wouldn't do either of us any good.
“Just a picture of a hand with our club's insignia,” I said. “It's no big deal and, like I said, I don't know what it means. But I need to go find out.”
“Are these guys dangerous, King?” she asked. “Don't lie to me.”
I shrugged. “Honestly, I don't know. I don't know a whole lot about them – ”
“You knew enough about them to do a business deal with them,” she reminded me. “That was how we met, remember?”
I nodded. “I do remember. But that was business, not some sort of lifelong commitment. It was supposed to be a one off sort of thing.”
“So why are they grabbing your guys off the street now?”
I felt the explosion of frustration coming too late and I couldn't stop myself from erupting. “I don't know, Abbie. I don't have any goddamn answers for you right now. All I know is that I need to go talk to these assholes and figure some shit out. But I can't do that if I'm worried that something is happening to you. Got it? Now, I need you to deal with the fact that El and Duke are going to be here looking after you for a little bit so I can do what I need to do.”
She loo
ked as startled as I felt. And when I saw the shimmer of tears in her eyes, I felt like an absolute jackass. I didn't mean to yell at her but the stress was getting to me and I just sort of snapped.
“Abbie look, I'm sorry,” I said. “I didn't mean to blow up like that. I'm just under a lot of pressure right now and it just got away from me. I'm sorry.”
“You're an asshole,” she sniffed loudly.
I nodded. “I know I am. And I'm sorry, Abbie. I didn't mean to snap on you like that. I'm just trying to make you understand how important this is.”
“Fine,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Go do whatever it is you think you have to do.”
I sighed. She didn't understand. But I was out of time and had to go. I stepped forward to give her a hug and a kiss but she recoiled from me. Disheartened, I stepped back.
HANDS OFF MY WIFE_Black Cossacks MC Page 17
