Chapter 12
Priest
“Explain it to me again.” Bones and I had wrapped up our business at Savage Delights faster than we had anticipated and decided to stay and watch the fight after. Bear was announcing for the night, which was rare now that he ran the underground fight ring for the Crows. Way back when, he was a fighter in The Pit, but now he ran the most popular illegal fighting ring in the state. Talk about the American dream.
Halfway through the main event, an MMA-style cage fight, Bones’s phone started vibrating in his pocket. One look at his text messages caused him to catch my eye and give me the “we need to leave” head jerk. Fuckin’ great. Could we not get a few hours where we didn’t have some kind of club bullshit coming our way? Maybe I was just being an asshole, and someone’s old lady got a flat tire and needed us to come help put on a spare. Either way, it pulled me away from the first fun thing I’d tried to do for myself in a few weeks. With my research and babysitting her , VP responsibilities, and trying to help Bard organize the upcoming meeting with the Alvarez Cartel, I’d been all work and no play for far too long. I wasn’t in the mood for a hookup, so watching a fight was the next best way to blow off a little steam. It beat getting into an actual fight, which would have been much more cathartic but potentially have unexpected consequences if I lost my temper and hurt someone more than I meant to. There was stress relief, and then there was murder. I had to draw a line somewhere, or else I was no better than scum like Slyzec.
As soon as we left the fight, Bones called Cricket and had a terse conversation while I smoked a cigarette. Hanging up, Bones informed me that there had been a complication with Lennon and Indigo’s little girls’ night out. Apparently, she had been invited to meet the new Mr. Petrov in town, and he had paid her special attention. Bones quickly paraphrased Cricket’s explanation about how the night went down.
“Cricket said the girls danced and had a good time, no problems. As soon as they were about to head home, they were stopped in the parking lot and told they had to go see Petrov. It's not Mikhail. Apparently, his son is running The Goldfinch, and it was him who seemed particularly interested in chica loca. Cricket said he only had eyes for her, and Thor looked like he wanted to bury his hammer in the guy’s head. Anyway, chica loca started acting cagey. Cricket couldn’t get a read on why.”
I scoffed. “More cagey than usual? Don’t pretend that girl ever behaves normally.” The bitch was nuttier than squirrel poop. I saw her talking to a cactus once, I swear to God.
Bones gave me a look, one of his disapproving dad glares that he always broke out whenever I said anything less than complimentary about his gal pal. I wasn’t sure how it happened, or why, or even exactly when, but Bones started looking at Indigo the way he used to look at Ellis. Like she was a little sister or something, and he was equally amused and exasperated by her sassy antics. And damn if that didn’t make me hate her just a little bit more. He looked at Ellis like that; he shouldn’t see anyone else in the same way. She didn’t deserve it, and she definitely wasn’t worth it. I’d prove it to Bones and Duke and everyone who thought the crazy chick was just so precious. I’d expose her for what she was, and they’d see that she didn’t need or deserve our help. Once she left, things would get back to normal. They had to.
“Anyway. He spoke to her in Russian, acted like he had met her before or was connected to her in some way. They’re on their way home now. She and Lennon are both fine. Quiet.” Oh, I bet she was being fuckin’ quiet now. A surge of vindication coursed through my veins at being proven right. I knew it! I knew she wasn’t an innocent little victim like Duke thought or a survivor-hero like Bones believed her to be. She had a connection, and to the Russian bratva of all things. Everyone else thought she was some down-on-her-luck victim who overcame shit and persevered or whatever crap she was spouting. I knew from the beginning that she was hiding something, and this was the proof I was looking for. I needed to research Riordan Petrov and determine how Indigo was connected to him. If I could show Duke proof, he’d have to rescind his job offer and kick her out at the very least or subject her to club justice at the worst for her deceit. I bet the bitch staged the entire Slyzec thing just to con her way into the clubhouse. Slyzec could be a Russian name, right? I bet the Petrovs knew all along what their man Slyzec was up to and turned a blind eye until it suited them to get rid of him. Bastards.
“I fuckin’ knew it,” I said as I jerked the strap for my helmet under my chin.
“We don’t know anything yet,” Bones replied, sliding on his own helmet and starting his bike. We pulled out of the lot bordering Savage Delights. The fight ring operated in an old warehouse the club owned, and the heroic Reno PD was paid to ignore it twice a week as long as nothing got out of hand.
“You don’t know anything, amigo. Let’s go home and debrief Cricket and Thor. We’ll talk to Duke and go from there.” I nodded and peeled out of the crumbling parking lot. I revved my engine, eager to get back to Sagebrush and prove to my brother and my dad that this girl had to go. She wasn’t good for the club, no matter how funny or sexy or peculiarly interesting she happened to be.