by Khloe Wren
In the aftermath of that trip to LAX, it was also revealed that John had made copies of his ledgers and hidden them around the country in safe deposit boxes. Each book had a key, address and box number inside of it. As far as I knew, the boxes here in New York were the only ones left now.
The boxes we were on the way to empty would contain the Ice Riders and the N.Y. mob books. Parrish had been keen to get a look at the mob one. Apparently, here in New York it wasn’t a single mob kinda deal, but five families, plus cartels. None of us knew exactly who John had gotten information on. Parrish was hopeful it was a cartel that was currently screwing with the Satan’s Knights.
The way the L.A. mob fit in to this mess was that the Rider we’d questioned told us his club had been having trouble with a cartel in New York, and Sabella had reached out to them, telling them if they came down and dealt with us, he’d give the Riders what they needed to deal with the cartel.
Like I said, turned out this shit was one, big, tangled web.
“Right, here we are. Let’s go get those ledgers.”
Keeping my place behind Mac and Riggs, I kept my head down and constantly glanced around us at everything that was going on. There were so many people everywhere, it was insane. We finally made it into the bank and up to the service desk. Mac pulled out all the paperwork and handed it over. I rather liked the efficiency. Guess with so many customers these big city banks had things streamlined. Before we knew it, we were in a private viewing room with three boxes. Like I said, as a prospect, I didn’t know everything. For example, I’d had no fucking clue that John had left an extra box at each location. Clearly, Mac had expected to find the extra box since he had a form signed by Silk to give us access to it. The thing was linked to the other boxes, but couldn’t be accessed with only the key. It was set up so only Silk could get it, or someone acting on her behalf.
Riggs set an empty bag on the table.
“Right. Let’s empty these babies and get back to Kate’s so we can go through them properly.”
We each took a box. I ended up with the Ice Rider’s box, Riggs, the mob’s, and Mac, Silk’s. I grabbed the ledger from my box and shoved it into the bag, as did Riggs. My eyes bugged out of my head when Mac opened his box up.
“Fuck.”
Mac just nodded at my curse and started moving it all into Riggs’ bag. There were copies of the two ledgers, and also a letter to Claudine, which was Silk’s real name. But on top of that were a few rolls of $100 bills and a Glock with a spare clip.
“John left a box like this at each location. It’s a failsafe for Silk, in case she was in trouble. The letter will, no doubt, be like the others, telling her to get away from whoever has forced her here and then go to her uncle for protection. I’ll make sure the letter and cash get back to Silk. We’ll leave the gun with you, Riggs.”
“Good deal. Let’s get the fuck outta here.”
Mac took the bag and held it out to me. “Scout’s orders, Bash. You’re officially on guard duty. Your job, as long as these ledgers exist, is to make sure they’re safe.”
I grunted at the weight of the bag that now had four fucking ledgers in it, plus the gun and cash.
With a laugh, Riggs slapped me on the back. Hard.
“Our very own Moses. Classic.”
Not really sure were this guy got this Moses business from. But damnit, I’d just been made a guardian to a bunch of old books.
Fuck my life.
Seriously, I really needed to start saying no to Scout on occasion.
Riggs started speaking as we rolled up in front of a bar.
“A while back, an asshole blew up our old clubhouse. After that, we were operating out of Pipe’s garage until I came across this gem. Now, we call this place home.”
Sign over the door stated it was Big Nose Kate’s. What a fucking weird name for a bar. I followed Mac and Riggs through the door, looking forward to being able to sit down. The bag weighed a fucking ton. Three steps in, I froze for a moment. The place was packed. Just before we’d left Parrish’s place earlier, he’d gotten a call from his daughter, saying their house had been broken into while she and her little brother were sleeping upstairs. The Satan’s Knights were on lockdown, which meant everyone the club cared about was heading this way. By the looks of it, most, if not all of them, were already here.
There was only one chick behind the bar and she was running to keep up. Woman was hot. Bit on the skinny side, but with the most beautiful wavy, honey golden hair. I couldn’t tell her eye color from this far away, but the straight line of her nose and the smile she gave the guy she was serving had my heart rate picking up. Maybe having to hang around here to guard these books wasn’t going to be such a bad thing after all. I wondered if she’d mind if I jumped behind the bar and helped her out? I’d just stash the bag behind there somewhere, where I could see it.
I finally caught sight of Arrow and Tiny sitting down at the far end of the bar with a few of the Knights, so I started to head over their way. But Riggs stopped me.
“Sorry, kid. We don’t get to be social yet. Need to go through those books of yours.”
Withholding a sigh, I followed him down a narrow hallway to an office. Mac came with us and once I set the bag down, he opened it up and handed off the Glock and clip to Riggs.
“Those boxes were at least seventeen years old. You’ll want to thoroughly check over that weapon before anyone tries to fire it.”
Riggs took it and examined it quickly. “Serial number has been filed off. We’ll take care of it.”
Pulling out a drawer, he dropped both the gun and clip in before shutting it. “Now, these ledgers. Let me take the mob one. We’re looking for any reference to the Sinaloa cartel.”
Mac grabbed the Ice Riders ledger and I had no clue what they wanted me to do. The other two books were just copies of what they were going to look over.
“I couldn’t help but notice your bartender out there is looking rushed. Since you two have this covered, why don’t I go out and give her a hand? I’ll take back over guard duty when Mac’s done.”
Riggs winced and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, Nico is supposed to be helping her but he’s busy dealing with Parrish. You know what you’re doing out there?”
“One of my main jobs with the Charons is manning the club bar. I know what to do.”
Riggs looked to Mac, who nodded. “All right then, out you go. Tell Lydia I sent you to help her so she should fucking play nice.”
Well, that was encouraging.
Before going out to the bar, I slipped into the men’s room and pulled my phone out. To make this run, I’d had to leave my ma home with nothing more than some hired help. She had early onset Alzheimer’s and was getting worse. New York was a long fucking way from Texas and I was nervous as hell being so far from her. I’d paid Beth, a home nurse, to be there as close to 24/7 as I could afford, but that shit didn’t come cheap so there were times Ma was going to be alone while I was gone. I hated that. Hated I couldn’t be there for her. I also felt guilty as fuck, because part of me was excited to be getting away for a little while. I’d been feeling like I was suffocating under all the responsibility for a while now. So when Scout had announced I’d be coming on this trip, a part of me had been elated to be getting a break from it all.
I shot off a text to Beth, asking how Ma was doing and she got straight back to me, saying she was doing as well as normal. My heart was lighter for having confirmation Ma was okay as I made my way out to the main room, which was even busier now. Lifting the hatch, I went behind the bar and moved up to Lydia, who turned to glare at me. Fuck, she really was gorgeous. Her green eyes were currently spitting fire, but they were stunning. I spoke before she could.
“Hey, darlin’, Riggs told me to come give you a hand.”
Her expression cooled slightly. “He did, did he? ‘Bout fucking time. Okay, cowboy, you ever worked in a bar before?”
I grabbed a glass and pulled a perfect beer before setting it
on the bar top. “Been working the clubhouse bar for a few years now, darlin’. Don’t you worry, I can keep up.”
She gave me a nod. “Excellent. You take that half of the bar. What you see is what we’ve got. We don’t do anything fancy. If you notice anything getting low, let me know.”
With that, I turned and tried to ignore how hot the chick working beside me was as I served various Knights and their families. Over the next hour or so, various Knights went back to join Mac and Riggs before returning to the bar. Then Parrish made his entrance with his arm wrapped around a woman who must be his wife. A little boy ran straight up to her, and when she picked him up like it was the most natural thing in the world, I released a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.
Scout had told us before we came up here that Parrish’s wife, Reina, had been in a car accident that had left her with a five year gap in her memory. She hadn’t been able to remember her husband or her son. Considering most days my own mother didn’t know who the hell I was, that got to me. Seeing the way she was with her boy, Danny, right now, gave me hope that unlike my own mother, Reina was starting to remember her life. That Danny wouldn’t have to live with the knowledge the woman at the center of his world didn’t know who he was half the time.
Clearing my throat, I turned my focus back to pouring drinks. I didn’t need to be getting fucking emotional in the middle of the Knights’ clubhouse. Wolf followed Parrish in and called church. Mac came out with the bag of fucking books for me.
“You’re back on duty, Bash. Need you out from behind the bar.”
I gave Lydia an apologetic look. “Sorry, sugar. Duty calls.”
She shrugged. “Always does. Tell Nico to get his ass back here, would you?”
“Sure, babe.”
After pouring myself a beer, I took the damn bag and moved out from behind the bar. After finding Nico and telling him Lydia needed him, I made myself at home at an out of the way at a table in the corner, with the bag sitting on the timber in front of me.
Still couldn’t quite believe I was stuck guarding a bunch of old books. That I couldn’t even help behind the bar while I did it.
Once church was out, Riggs came over to my table with his laptop in hand.
“Hey, Moses. We got some more work to do.”
“Do we need to go back to the office again?”
“Nah, here’ll work. Just let me grab a fucking drink.”
Despite how many people were here, the corner I’d found wasn’t too noisy, and our backs were to the wall so no one would be able to sneak a look over our shoulders without our knowing about it. I watched as, on his way to the bar, Riggs stopped by a table where two boys were sitting down coloring, while a woman stood next to them swaying as she held a newborn wrapped in a blue blanket. He slipped up behind the sexy brunette and in one smooth move, grabbed her hips and pulled her back against him while he shoved his face in against her throat. With a laugh, she turned in his arms so she could kiss his lips. Wolf whistles filled the air as his club brothers started to stir him up over always being on his old lady.
The older boy looked up at his mother’s laugh and jumped out of his seat with an excited “Daddy!”, running straight for Riggs. With a grin, I took another mouthful of beer. What would that be like? To have a woman and kids who looked at you the way Riggs’ did. He picked up his son and spoke too quietly for me to hear before he pressed a kiss to the top of his head and sat him back at the table. Then, after another kiss for his old lady, and one for each of his other two sons, he headed to the bar. He returned to my table with a glass of amber liquid and set about booting up his laptop.
“Moses, pull out the Riders’ ledger for me.” He paused to down half his glass in one shot. Grabbing a pen and a paper napkin, he wrote some dates down. “Mark these pages for me. I just gotta find this fucking lawyer for Parrish, then we’ll chase down those addresses.”
Pulling out both copies of the Ice Riders’ ledger, I flipped through to the appropriate pages then swiveled them to face Riggs.
“What’s with the Moses thing? You know my name is Bash, right?”
With a smirk, he leaned back to take a drink. Then gave me a brief glance before he returned his gaze to the screen.
“You’re not Catholic are you?”
I shrugged, not seeing the point. “Ma took me to a few Baptist services when I was a kid. What’s your point?”
He shook his head. “God entrusted Moses with the Ten Commandments. He had to guard the stone tablets they were written on... You seeing the similarities yet?”
Man played the fool well, but Riggs was no dummy.
I rolled my eyes before nodding at the books. “Sure. But I don’t think these things are on the same level.”
Riggs barked out a laugh. “Close enough.”
Before he could say more, his laptop dinged and he got serious. “Found the fucker.” He looked up around the room until his eyes caught Parrish’s gaze. With a nod, he came over to us.
“You found him?”
“Sure did. Fucker is living it up over at the Playboy Club in Manhattan.” He grabbed another napkin and wrote out the address. “I’ll set you guys up with a membership that should get you in the door.”
Parrish reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “Thanks, brother.”
Then he marched off, grabbing Wolf and the vice president, Pipe, before heading out the door. I finished my beer and decided to grab a fresh one while Riggs did his thing.
“Want another drink?”
“Sure. Lydia knows my poison.”
Chapter 2
It was mid-morning the following day when Nico came through the door calling out “Honey, we’re home!” to announce Scout’s arrival. The rest of the Charons and I were sitting together at the bar with cups of coffee, me with this fucking bag of books under my arm that rested on the bar top. Scout came straight over to us, looking like he was ready to get shit done.
Arrow greeted him first. “Hey, prez. Good to see you.”
Scout gave us each a back slap before he faced Arrow. “Anything new happen since my early morning phone call from Wolf?”
Arrow nodded. “Plenty. We were waiting on you to come in before church was called.”
He’d barely finished speaking when Wolf’s shrill whistle filled the air.
“Get your asses to church. Charons, too.”
But even here, that didn’t include me. Normally a man did twelve months as a prospect before he earned his full colors. It’d been two fucking years since I became a prospect for the Charon MC and these constant reminders that I still didn’t have a place at the big boys’ table fucking stunk. It’s not like I hadn’t earned my patch. Hell, I’d even taken a bullet when I was assigned guarding Mac’s old lady, Zara. Of course, by taking said bullet, I’d been taken out and the bad guys had managed to get their hands on Zara, so I didn’t bring that shit up with anyone.
While everyone of importance was back in church, I sat with my bag of books and sipped my coffee while I watched Lydia restocking the bar. The longer I watched her ass, the more uncomfortable I got sitting there in my jeans. Considering I wasn’t allowed to leave the ledgers to help her behind the bar, I was pretty sure I’d get my ass handed to me if I left them to go make a pass at her. And that was a damn shame, because not only was Lydia pretty as all get out, she was seriously stressed and could use a good fuck to help her relax.
A sudden influx of noise had me looking toward the door that led back to the chapel just in time to see all the men returning, all getting ready to ride out. Scout beelined for me and I inwardly cringed at the look on his face. Whatever he was about to tell me, he thought I wasn’t going to like it. He was probably right.
“Bash, you’re staying put.” He stood in close so only I’d hear his words. “Don’t take this personally, Jake. It’s not because I don’t think you’re capable of handling this run. It’s because you shouldn’t have to. We’re going to take out the Ice Riders, son. It’s gonna get
messy and you’re too young to have to see that shit if you don’t have to.”
I wanted to call bullshit. I was twenty-five fucking years old. Men my age were off fighting the war, seeing bloodshed every damn day.
“Don’t fight it, Jake. I still need you to watch over those ledgers. Can you imagine if the wrong people got a hold of them? Worked out there were more? We’d have all sorts of fuckers gunning for Silk and the club. Keeping them safe is important.”
He didn’t need to say what his eyes were telling me. I was just like those fucking ledgers. Something he wanted kept safe.
Fuck it all.
I clenched my jaw so I didn’t say something to my president I’d most likely regret later, and gave the man a nod. Scout spun on his heel and headed out. I stared at my hands, clenching and unclenching my fists as I seethed over being fucking left behind yet again.
“Looks like you could use a drink, cowboy. Beer, or you want something stronger?”
“Stronger. Definitely something stronger.”
When a glass with a couple of fingers of amber liquid appeared beside my hands, I looked up and straight into her green eyes. She held me captive for a minute with her gaze and I got the impression she was seeing more than I wanted her to. Someone else called for her attention, and she looked away, breaking the contact before she moved. As the sound of Harleys filled the air, I snatched the glass and threw back the contents faster than I should have. The burn had my eyes watering, but I thankfully managed to hold in the cough that would have made me look like a fucking pussy to the few who were left in the bar.
