“I fucked up, shouldn’t have touched her.” Ice muttered.
“You’re right, you shouldn’t have.” She snarled.
Ice opened his mouth to try and explain but she didn’t give him even a second to do so before she disappeared back into Hawk’s room and closed the door softly but very fucking firmly.
He was fucked.
CHAPTER SIX
Hawk
Sunday Afternoon
His old lady was pissed and Hawk had no idea why but he had thought it wise to get himself out of the way until she calmed down.
He had called a meeting of his officers to get out of her way but it wasn’t the only reason. After the party last night the men weren’t at their best but Ice looked even worse. He wondered what the hell was up with him. Or was it just the shit with the bitch wanting to get back with him? Hawk didn’t know because his cousin wasn’t talking.
He wasn’t going to let him get away with that crap. Ice needed to shake his fucking head because his eyes were stuck. Everyone but he could see the play the bitch was making. She was playing him, making him doubt what he was feeling. Before she reappeared Ice had been fine, and over the shit she had pulled seven years ago. Hawk even suspected he had been ready to start looking for an old lady. And after the way he had been with River Anderson last night he knew exactly who his cousin had in mind.
She would be good for him and the club. She had lived the life before, knew how things worked. And her ties to the Sinner’s Sons would tie the two clubs closer together than the handshake he and Dagger had exchanged to become allies.
DC had brought the Road Warriors with her and if Ice took River as his old lady she would bring the Sinner’s Sons. Between the three clubs they covered all of South Africa and that would make their enemies think twice about taking them on.
But by the look of Ice this morning it wasn’t going to happen.
Okay, he could respect Ice’s decision, what he couldn’t handle was his cousin being taken for a ride once again by the bitch who had slithered back in to his life. That shit ends today, in this room.
Hawk smacked his palm down on the table and silence descended.
“Ziggy, I want you digging into Emma Coetzee and everyone connected to her. Go back as far as you have to. Don’t leave anything untouched. I don’t give a fuck who you have to hack, do it and get me the information. There’s a reason why she’s back besides wanting Ice to abandon the club and play house with her.”
He ignored Ice trying to get a word in.
“Kid, Beast and Sin you’re with me tomorrow. Ice, I want you and Jagger to check every single security measure and back up here and at our businesses. Make sure everything is in place and working as they should. Spider and Kahn, go over our books and accounts. Check everything. I have a burning in my gut telling me shit is coming and we’ve missed something. Meeting done. Get out of here and watch your backs.”
Everyone left except Ice and he didn’t have to wait long for before he let it all out.
“Back the fuck off Emma. She’s my problem and I’ll sort it out.” He snapped his eyes dark with anger.
Hawk swallowed back his knee jerk reaction and coldly looked at his VP, right at this moment he was his VP, not his cousin and best friend.
“You have that one wrong, Ice. She’s my problem because her shit has my VP tied in fucking knots and not thinking straight. And he’s missing shit he never would have missed before.”
“Bullshit. I have not missed a single thing.”
Hawk raised his eyebrows. “So that surprised fucking look on your face when you realised who River Anderson was, that was done on purpose?”
Hawk shook his head as his cousin gritted his teeth and clamped his fucking mouth shut.
“You were there when DC brought me her list of invites before the party and I asked about River Anderson. The three of us were in my fucking office but you were off in your head and didn’t hear a fucking thing we said. Hence the eyebrow twitching and surprise.”
Hawk sat forward in his chair and stared right into his cousin’s eyes. “I need you, Ice. I can’t have your attention wandering because it could mean the lives of everyone in this club. I need you sharp. I need you at my back. Don’t fight me on this shit with Emma. Let it go. Let it go and do your job.”
Hawk watched as his cousin’s head dropped and his chest expanded as he took a deep breath. His eyes were clear when he looked up.
“I’m sorry, Prez. I’m here and you can count on me. You’re right. The shit with Emma needs to take a back seat to club business. But I have to tell you I’m fucking confused. I don’t know if I ever really loved her, like my dad loves my mum. I wanted her, that’s no secret, but love, deep like the love my folks have for each other? I’m not sure I ever felt it.”
“Then let me do what I have to do, Ice. Let Ziggy look into her because I’m telling you something isn’t right. Her story just doesn’t feel right to me.”
Hawk felt it deep in his chest when his cousin sighed heavily. “Okay. You and Ziggy do what you have to do. I only want one promise from you. If Ziggy finds shit I want to be let in on it. Whatever he finds let me deal with it.”
“Not happening. If he finds shit we deal with it together, the way brothers do.”
Ice reached a hand across the table and they clasped hands tight, and Hawk nodded. Relief coursed through him. He had expected this talk to end harshly, it didn’t.
Thank fuck.
Ice
His cousin was right. He had to get his head on straight and concentrate on the club. They had a war coming and he was dropping the ball because he had women on his brain.
That stopped right now, right this minute.
He’d let Ziggy dig into Emma’s shit and once it was sorted he would mend fences with River.
River was important to him, very fucking important and he had realised it almost too late. Once the shit with Emma was settled he would be making sure River knew exactly what he wanted from her. And he wanted everything. Every-fucking-thing.
Ziggy
Monday
Frowning Ziggy leant forward as he clicked and clicked again revealing more and more photos of the family braai in a bogus Iron Dogz MC Facebook page.
The club did have a facebook page but he was in control of it and he was very damned careful about what he posted plus their privacy settings kept people from snooping. The page he was looking at was wide open and had already been visited by a few hundred people. It did not take him long to flag it and have it closed down but he knew it was already too late.
What worried him was the majority of the photos were of DC and River and the women dancing with them. Not good, definitely not good.
Who had taken those photos and then posted them on facebook?
Laying the photos out on one monitor he pulled saved footage and started comparing angles. After two hours of comparing angles and pulling footage from several of the cameras he had three possible matches. Two of those he discarded immediately because it was DC and Hawk. It left the female he found holding her phone as if reading a message in most of the stills he had printed off. She looked faintly familiar. A better question was how did she get into the party? He had done background checks on every single invite and she definitely hadn’t been on that list. He would have remembered her.
It was time to call in the boss.
Hawk
Hawk walked into Ziggy’s office with Ice right behind him and looked at the photos on the monitors and immediately saw what had his brother so worried. Almost every single photo had DC and River and the other club women in it. Women belonging to the Iron Dogz and the Road Warriors. Not one of the club girls who had been at the braai were featured in those photos.
They were all of DC, River, the old ladies and the female family members of brothers in both of the clubs.
Then he looked at the photo of the woman taking the photos and frowned. He knew who she was but not personally. Shelly was a club girl popular wi
th some of the brothers but there was something off about her appearance. Something he couldn’t place just yet but he would eventually.
Pointing at the photo he lifted an eyebrow, waiting for Ziggy to fill them in.
“I’m looking into her, Boss. I think I’ve seen her here on open party nights but that’s about all I know. I have no idea how she got in, she wasn’t on the list. We need to ask the brothers if one of them maybe brought her in.”
“That’s Shelly, she’s a hangaround. I’ve fucked her once or twice.” Ice growled angrily. “What the fuck is she trying to do here? Get herself killed?”
Hawk shrugged. “Seems like it. Get me her address, Ziggy. It should be in the database.”
Pulling his phone from his pocket he swiped and spoke as soon as someone answered. “Kid, take Beast and a prospect with a cage and bring the bitch called Shelly in. Bring any electronics you find at her place as well. Ziggy will text you her address.”
Ice
Rubbing a hand over his chin Ice stared at the photos on the monitors and frowned. What the hell was going on here?
An hour and a half later they had a petrified bitch sitting in Hawk’s office. His prez silently stared at the woman, not saying a word. Ice stood behind Hawk and coldly stared down at her as she fidgeted and bounced her leg with anxiety.
“You’ve been hanging around the club for almost two years now, am I right?” Hawk asked quietly.
“Yes, yes, Prez. Why am I here? Am I in trouble?”
“That depends on what you say next, Shelly.” Ice growled before Hawk could answer.
“I swear I’ve done nothing. I wouldn’t. I love it here, love the club and everything.” She looked up at Ice and he saw tears in her eyes. “You know I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise the club, don’t you, Ice? We’ve always been good together and I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.”
Fuck. Not another one. Ice gritted his teeth as Kid softly snickered next to him.
“Fucking Ice has nothing to do with why you are here. Answer my questions and you might walk out of here. Who invited you to the family braai? Why did you take photos of the women at the party and post them online?” Hawk’s voice was cold and hard.
In front of them Shelly deflated. She shrank into herself and tried to look as small as possible.
“What did you do, Shelly?” Ice was so angry his voice was a low rumble as it grated out of his throat.
If the bitch could have she would have dropped lower in her chair.
“They came to me two weeks before the braai. They had photos of my family and my little sister. They said if I didn’t do what they wanted she would disappear never to be seen again. Sold to some pervert who likes to hurt little girls.” Tears were now running down her cheeks. “I couldn’t let them hurt her so I agreed to do anything they wanted.”
She sniffed loudly before she continued and Hawk threw a box of tissues at her. Ice did not want to think about why his cousin had a fucking box of tissues in his office.
“At first they just asked questions about the brothers. They wanted to know how many of the brothers lived at the compound and who had families outside. I couldn’t tell them everything they wanted to know because I didn’t know. They told me to find out. I tried to drag it out while I got my family out and to safety.” She blew her nose loudly before she continued.
“On the night before the braai a woman came to my flat. She said my name had been added to the guest list. She gave me a phone and told me she wanted photos of all the claimed women who attended and especially photos of anyone who spent time with Ice. The next day she came back for the phone and told me she would be in contact soon.”
Her eyes scanned over all of them before she looked back at Hawk. “That’s all I know. She hasn’t been back and the men haven’t been back either.”
“Will you be able to recognise them if you saw them again?”
Shelly nodded her head.
Hawk motioned Ziggy closer and he smacked the laptop down in front of her angrily.
The bitch immediately nodded and pointed at one of the photos. “That’s her. She gave me the phone. I’ve never seen any of the other people in the photos.”
Fucking Emma.
Hawk rested his steepled hands against his mouth and stared at her before he sighed.
“You should have come to me, Shelly. You should have trusted that we would take care of you and your family but instead you chose to betray us. You will stay here but when this shit is over you are done with the club. As of today consider yourself banned. Any brother who fucks you after today will find out what it means to piss me off.”
Waving a hand at Beast to take her away he waited until her snivelling ass was out of the office and the door closed behind her.
Ice and Kid sank down in the chairs in front of the desk.
“Fuck, Hawk, they’re targeting the women in both clubs. We need to warn Doc and we’ll have to warn Dagger. River is under his club’s protection. Do you think this is the old woman’s next play?” Ice battled to calm himself as he waited for his presidents’ answer.
Hawk sat back in his chair with his hands over his face then slammed them back down on his desk. “Lock it down. Get every single fucking female back here and lock it down. We can defend from here but not if everybody is scattered all over the fucking place.”
“Hang on a minute, Prez.” Ice cautioned. “Just think about it. What if that’s exactly what they want? All of us and the women in one place. What if we haven’t found all the bastards working with the fucking old woman? What if they come at us like they did in Durban?”
Hawk looked as if he was about to explode but calmed slightly. “Okay, I’m listening.”
“Let me set the shit up with Emma. We keep an eye on her and gather more information before we move on this. In the meantime we make damned sure the women are never without a guard. It will spread us thin but it seems like we’re the only chapter being targeted at the moment. We could call in some of the brothers from the other chapters to help out.”
Kid nodded. “Yeah, it’s a damned good plan. We call a general meeting or something and call in specific brothers, some of the Nomads as well. They wouldn’t know we’re calling in an army as we wait for their next fucked up move.”
Hawk was about to say something when his phone rang and when he glanced down and saw the caller ID he held up a hand.
“Hey, little bird, I’m in the middle of some shit here. Can I call you back in a few minutes?”
His expression went nuclear as he listened. Ice glanced at Kid with a frown before he looked back at his president. What the hell was going on now?
“Lock the doors. All of you in the office. No one leaves, DC. No one. Who’s on duty today?”
He nodded and Ice could see him calm slightly.
“Good. Call Doc, he needs to send brothers to escort Nadja and Grace. We’ve got you and the others. We’ll be there as soon as we can, little bird. Sit tight, okay?”
As soon as the dropped his phone he barked out orders.
“Ice, get the big cage ready to take DC and her people home. I want you behind the wheel. Kid, call in the brothers who are nearest, we’re on our bikes. The bitch just made her next move.” He stood as he spoke and moved around the desk. “An hour ago an official from the Department of Health arrived at DC’s shop and told her they were investigating complaints about hygiene violations. He obviously didn’t find anything but informed her it’s standard practice to close down the shop until they’ve done their investigation. He wanted them to vacate the premises immediately and give him the keys, DC refused. She insisted on having her lawyer present. And the fucker became a tiny bit too antsy. My woman is concerned about his motivations. Gav and Sam escorted him and his sidekick out. Now they’re all tucked away in the office waiting for us. Let’s ride.”
Ice didn’t waste any time. He ran out to the garage and pulled the huge SUV out. He hit the road and called up the shortest route to Melville on t
he on-board computer. Plugging his phone into the phone dock he dialled Hawk. He knew his cousin would be wearing his full-face helmet with his phone plugged in.
“Hawk.” His cousin snarled over the sound of his bike roaring.
“I’m on the road and taking the shortest route I can. I’ve got Boots and Wolf escorting me. You hit the road and ride hard, cuz. See you there.”
Ice didn’t expect an answer from Hawk and there wasn’t any.
The threat to the club had now sharply escalated. No one made threats against the women and children of a biker club and lived to tell the tale. They could not allow this to stand.
Blood was going to be spilled and very soon.
Later that night after everyone had been taken care of Ice sat at the bar and stared down at his phone. As much as he hated it he was going to have to do it. Slamming a shot down he cracked his neck and started typing.
Emma, we need to talk. When can we meet?
The answer came back almost immediately.
I’m on a rotational shift this week but I’m free next week. How about Tuesday evening at my place?
Jesus. Fuck.
Okay. I’ll be there at 7.30pm
The answer came back almost instantaneous.
Looking forward to it, Gray
Jesus. It made him want to vomit but he slammed down several more shots before he stumbled up to his room where he fell on his bed and passed out.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Ice
Tuesday night came way too soon and Ice swallowed down his anger as he and Kid pulled up in front of Emma’s house. It was just as ostentatious as Hawk had described it. A fucking mac-mansion. Ice went over the floor plan in his head as he rang the bell.
He looked back at Kid, who sat on his bike, his legs stretched out, crossed at the ankles and feet resting on the curb. The asshole grinned as he crossed his arms over his chest and sat there like he owned the damned place.
Lost And Found In Blue (Iron Dogz MC Book 2) Page 6
