Chapter 15
Casey
The rest of the day with the guys was… well, interesting.
Shaw didn’t seem at all surprised or bothered at the news of Lee and me.
In fact, he acted no differently than before.
When I came downstairs and sat on the couch to unpack everything, he simply curled up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, eyes closed as I tried to pull the barcode stickers off in one piece.
After finding the food I’d bought for everyone, Vail appeared, a bowl of Kraft Dinner in his hands.
He sat on one of the lounge chairs while Lee took the other on the opposite side.
It was so unbearably quiet that I turned on the TV just to have some background noise while I went through all the new things I bought.
Several times when I paused to glance up at the two sitting across from each other, I caught them glaring daggers each other’s way…
or rather, Vail was glaring while Lee was smirking.
Ugh! He needed to cut that out. Shaw, meanwhile, was like a cat all curled up behind me, half asleep, his body completely relaxed.
“So, what happened?” I asked as I ripped the tag out of the throw pillows I’d purchased for the couch. “What did Maverick say?” Reaching behind, I carefully lifted Shaw’s head and slid the pillow beneath it before turning back to check out the various candles I’d gotten.
Vail’s head lazily dropped to the side to look at me, his brows raised as though surprised I’d spoken at all. “Are you sure you’re fit to hear this? Your eardrums aren’t still ringing from having your head pounded into the headboard, the wall, the shower tile?”
I narrowed my eyes on him, wishing that I had powers of telepathy so I could make the chair he was sitting in, toss him across the room, and say nothing. I waited, letting him decide if he thought it was a good idea to keep baiting me this way.
Make the smart choice, St. James… I thought as I glared him down.
The bastard looked away, his own scowl landing on Lee, as though he blamed him completely for what we did. “Maverick’s informant came through. He says we can move in on La Maison Rouge next week.”
As glad as I was that he moved on, I was confused by everything he just said.
“Is he sure this time?” Shaw growled from behind me, his grip around my waist tightening. “We almost got fucking killed last time when the Beasts showed up last second at their warehouse by St. Lawrence…”
“That was a last-minute change by O’Hare, apparently,” Vail said, stretching his legs out before him.
“According to Maverick’s inside guy, the man is a paranoid fuck lately…
with Elias taking out the Beasts Prez and VP and their family and shit, we think Sheik is feeling the pressure as the new leader of their MC. ”
“So can we guarantee that there won’t be a last-minute change of plans?” Lee asked. “A heads up for the other night could have fucking helped.”
Before answering, Vail gave Lee major side-eye, “I guess their inside man wasn’t with them when this happened.”
“What exactly happened last time?” I asked, trying to keep up.
Vail glanced at me, his scowl softening as he watched me arrange some candles on the coffee table before lighting them with the matches I’d also purchased.
“Elias has private docks out in a border town by St. Lawrence. We suspected he trafficks girls out of the country that way, rather than dealing with border bullshit. We were scoping it out, hoping to catch them in the act or see one of our girls.” Vail looked away from all of us, running his hand over his face before he rested his chin upon his knuckles.
“Fucking Hunter and the Jackals were there, for whatever the fuck reason…”
“They’re trying to climb up the power ladder.
” Shaw’s voice was filled with disgust. “They want to get on Elias’ good side.
I can see Hunter volunteering his guys to act as extra security on runs like that.
And that Faceless fucker wouldn’t give a shit that they’re just high school wannabe punks. He’s using them.”
“Does Hunter know this?” I asked, leaning back against Shaw’s stomach.
“Probably,” Vail said quietly. “But like us, he’s trying to survive, too, right?
He’s just going about it a different way.
Instead of hiding from the Faceless, hoping to sneak through the cracks without getting stepped on, he’s met them head-on, hoping for a bit of that power if he proves himself enough. ”
I got what Vail was saying, though it didn’t stop me from hating Hunter’s guts. His working alongside the Faceless immediately made him dirt in my eyes. “So we know for sure the Jackals are giving the Beasts’ girls to bring to Elias and his guys?” I asked.
“No definitive proof of that, but that’s what we suspect,” Lee said, his dark eyes still on Vail. They’re both silently watching each other now, as if having some silent conversation between them.
“So what exactly happened then at the docks?” I asked.
Vail didn’t look away from Lee, his mask firmly in place as he stared his friend down.
“Vendetta was there trying to get some proof of the trafficking, like Lee said, to see one of our girls there. When Hunter and his group of jackasses caught us, they notified the Faceless. We tried to get out the way we had broken into the area, but then the fucking Celtic Beasts showed up, blocking our exit.”
“How many of you in Vendetta are there?” I asked curiously.
“Within the school?” Shaw mumbled. “About fifty. On the streets? Another fifty. Lots of local guys who are sick of the city not giving a shit about Harley. We stick together. It’s the only way we can survive.”
“How many of you were there that night?”
“Ten,” Vail said. “There were about twenty of Hunter’s guys moving through the area, searching for trespassers past the fence line.
When the Beasts showed up, the Jackals had already gathered near the way in and out.
That’s when that psycho biker who was with them literally jumped off his bike, grabbed a chainsaw from one of the construction piles, and just attacked the closest kid within his reach…
” He paused, and for a moment, the memory of it was still fresh in his mind.
“He attacked Bryce Fraser. Started hacking and sawing away like he was nothing. The way he screamed…”
I wasn’t supposed to know about Bryce yet, but I didn’t push or question it.
To see something like that was seriously fucked, and the fact that Vail and Shaw were holding it together so well after it was absolutely mind-blowing.
I was proud of their strength, but I also wanted them to know that showing me their vulnerability was more than okay.
“So Bryce is…” I let the words hang there, and their silence only confirmed it.
“He’s gone,” Shaw said quietly. “Just like Mark DeLuca and so many others.”
“What happened to Mark?”
“Drive-by,” was all Lee said, he and Vail resuming their staring match.
I sighed shakily, my mind reeling from what they’d told me. But even though it felt like my head was gonna explode, I still had questions. “So what about La Maison Rouge? What does that mean when Maverick says you can move in?”
“La Maison Rouge is an exclusive “Gentleman’s Club” run by the Faceless.
” I could hear the sarcasm in his voice when Vail said, gentleman’s club.
“If girls haven’t been sold, then we suspect they are held in the basement and are being used for entertainment there.
I’ve gone there twice with Meredith, hoping to recognize some of the girls, but nothing.
We were going to go there last week, but we were told that the Beasts were going to be there that night, which was why we thought to go to the docks and scope it out instead. ”
“You and Meredith have gone inside ?” I asked incredulously.
“She plays the part of my pet,” he explained.
“Just a way to be convincing when I treat a girl like shit. But Mer is a good sport about it, and we know it’s an act.
Built up a whole backstory for my character and everything.
But after the docks, I think too many people saw me.
I won’t be able to go again.” He broke his gaze with Lee to look over to Shaw, who was still curled around me.
“We’re gonna need a whole new persona and backstory built. ”
“I’ve already been working on one for Lee.”
“Wait, for Lee?” I glanced around at them, confused.
“He’s going to take my place on the next run into La Maison Rouge,” Vail explained.
“We’ve already talked about it.” Seeing the panicked look on my face, he gentled his tone a bit.
“He’ll be okay, Casey. Shaw’s great with online stuff and setting up fake accounts, profiles, and IDs. Lee will be all set.”
“Why the hell do any of you have to go in there? Why not Maverick or one of his guys? An actual adult?” I was furious, pissed off that these guys were basically taking all the risks in this collaboration or whatever the fuck you wanted to call the business relationship Vendetta had with the Black Spades.
“The Faceless and Beasts know them all. They have a bad history with each other going back decades. They’d be instantly recognized.
” Even though I understood what Vail was saying, I still didn’t like it.
But as I thought about what he told me before, about the bikers being different in that most of these guys had grown up living a dangerous lifestyle and started their initiation at young ages to be accepted into their MC.
They didn’t know any different. So while I gathered why, that didn’t mean I had to like it.
“Anyways, gonna have the crew over in a couple of days to organize this run. This time, with it looking like a quiet night, Maverick feels confident about breaking into the basement to see if the girls are being held there. Lee, it’ll be up to you and Meredith to watch and make sure the ones on the inside aren’t aware of the break-in. ”