Chapter Fourteen
Eli (Handlebar)
Cassie took the news better than I thought she was going to. It was always obvious to me she would want to help, Cassie is a fierce and powerful woman who would help another women any way she can. It’s why King wants her involved in this.
As I’ve come to expect he didn’t give me many details after I talked to him. He only called on me today, leaving me hanging after the run, making me wonder if Mace was messing with me when he said King wanted to talk.
That wouldn’t have surprised me. Turns out King wasn’t interested in discussing what happened with the Hamilton Chapter, or between Mace and me. All he wanted to know about was the Veil Line. He never said why and I never asked.
He told me to find out everything I could about how to make contact with them. Something I figured I’d be able to do alone until he told me he wanted Cassie involved.
King doesn’t miss a damn fucking thing, and he saw the way I reacted to that. It’s not often you see King being jovial, but he smirked at me. I didn’t know what to say to that other than agree to do it, so long as he was okay with me doing it my way.
His only stipulation was that it didn’t take us too long.
“We should head back to the compound before it gets too late,” I say, getting to my feet and sliding the chair back under the desk. Cassie leans back and looks at me. “I know how you feel about the place believe me, but the house isn’t that bad, right?”
“It’s not my own bed, Eli,” she sighs and gets up. “And spending another night there in the same week doesn’t fill me with joy.”
“If it’s any consolation, Rosa is in New York.”
Her head whips around to me as she drops her purse on the desk. “Why is she in New York?”
“Her and Waverley went to do some shopping or something. I didn’t ask.”
“Is Hudson there?” she tilts her head with a knowing look.
“Come on, we gotta go.” There is no point answering that question.
She follows me out of her office. “That you know it makes life easier if my mother isn’t around should worry me,” she comments after locking the door.
I grin as I follow behind her. Her ass looks phenomenal in that skirt, well, it looks great in anything but Cassie has a way of walking that makes her hips sway enticingly. I do the gentlemanly thing and stop staring as we make our way back outside.
The security guards eyeball me like I’m about to pull out a gun and shoot the place up. I mean, I have a gun on me, but I’ve got a license to carry it. I give them a look as we pass through the lobby, Cassie doesn’t miss it and rolls her eyes, calling out goodnight to them.
I reach the door and step through first, checking the lot before I let Cassie follow me.
“What was that?” she asks.
“Instinct,” I shrug. She doesn’t look impressed but doesn’t have the energy to complain.
As she heads for her car, I look around the parking lot again. The car that had been parked up the whole time I was waiting for Cassie is gone.
The man in it seemed to be watching the building.
He probably didn’t think I could see him through the tinted windows but every time he used his phone it lit, up and showed me him sitting right there.
Either he saw me and didn’t care, or he was too focused on whatever he was waiting for.
After Rosa’s comments about Cassie needing protection, I wasn’t going to take any chances.
Cassie doesn’t say anything as she gets in the car I stick close but don’t crowd her and she drives well within the speed limit. She doesn’t want to go to Sussex.
Not that I blame her. When King calls, we drop everything, doesn’t matter who you are. Cassie might not want to believe it, but she is as loyal to the MC as any of the brothers.
Once we’re parked up, I ask one of the guys to move her car over to the house for her and Cassie hands me her keys. I figure she won’t want to walk up to the clubhouse to get her car when it’s time to go in the morning.
There isn’t a party going on as such, but it’s rowdy as we move through the front of the clubhouse. Cassie knows the way and doesn’t spare anyone else in the room a second glance. She doesn’t wait for me to catch up, knocking on the door to King’s office.
“Cassie,” King says, getting to his feet. There are two other brothers in the office with him.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“Not interrupting,” he says and nods to Wraith and Kansas who gather up their stuff and head out.
I shut the door and stand back as Cassie takes a seat opposite King. She’s done this so many times she is effortless. Despite how late it is and the tiredness she tries to hide, Cassie is switched on for King.
It’s impossible to take my eyes off her, which is a big fuck up when King is here. There is nothing that man doesn’t miss.
“How are you, Cassie?”
After a moment of hesitation, like she wasn’t expecting the pleasantries, she smiles. “I’m fine thank you. A little tired, it’s been a long day in work.”
“And I appreciate you coming out here tonight. I hadn’t thought you would be so late getting here.”
That’s aimed at me. He’s right, I should have gone up to her office to find her when she didn’t come out with the majority of the other staff but I was still trying to wrap my head around the whole situation and what King wants. Also how to speak to Cassie about it.
I might have no idea how it is going to play out but knowing I’ll be doing it with her has given me some hope that I can figure out what went so wrong that she can barely make eye contact with me.
“I had work to finish at the office, it couldn’t wait.”
King sits down and if I’m not mistaken, there is a twitch of his lip beneath his thick mustache. “I’ll assume Handlebar gave you the basics.”
“He did,” she answers and leans back, crossing her legs, looking every inch the professional, powerful woman she is. “Why do you want to be a part of it?” she asks.
Fuck me, her attitude is so damn hot. I shift on my feet, and King casts a quick look my way.
“For the moment, that isn’t important. How we can tap into their services, if we ever need it is.”
“It’s not something you can dip in and out of,” I speak up, drawing both of their attention. “They’re secretive for a reason. You don’t find them, they find you. I’m not sure it’s going to be possible.”
“In my experience, that isn’t something Cassie Beillo will agree with.”
“Nothing is impossible,” she agrees.
“The difference is, the Veil Line isn’t just a group of people saving women, it’s a whole system and network that has been cultivated over years. They will do anything to protect the people who work for them.”
“And you think an MC trying to track them down will scare them off.”
“It won’t scare them off,” I tell her. “You can’t scare off what you’ve never had contact with in the first place.”
“This is why I want you to work together.”
“From what E… Handlebar is saying,” she corrects herself, but neither me nor King missed it. “You’re setting us with an impossible task.”
“I have faith.”
Cassie snorts and King leans back, but he isn’t angry, he’s half smiling back at her.
“What you need,” he says. “Is someone who needs their help.”
“And do you happen to have one of them?” she asks.
“You can’t make someone up to lure them in,” I say, stepping closer to the table.
“All due respect, I really do not want to be a part of trying to fool them, Prez. They do a lot of good, and to have them avoid this area because we piss them off could mean the difference between life and death for a woman who needs them.”
Out of the corner of my eye I notice Cassie watching me.
She doesn’t say anything but I’m close enough to hear her breath catch at me challenging King.
I remain focused on him, conveying I’m serious.
I’ll do anything for the club but screwing around with the Veil Line, that’s not something I want to be a part of. They’re too important.
“Thank you, Handlebar, let me talk to Cassie alone.”
He isn’t really asking me if it’s okay, he’s dismissing me.
My teeth grind and I make eye contact with her as I start to turn.
I can’t read whatever it is she is trying to convey because I’m too angry.
I never should have told Mace about the Veil Line.
If I asked him not to say anything, he probably would have told me to go to hell.
I can’t help but think I may have fucked things up.
I walk straight through the bar and back out into the night without acknowledging anyone, and head to the garage. It’s dark inside due to being closed and everyone off doing whatever they do with their night.
There has got to be more to this than King is letting on. He isn’t the type to want to dip his hand into something like the Veil Line.
Standing in the dark, I stare out at the compound taking in the buildings, the high wall and security gate that was fitted after the Kingsmen blew up the regular wooden one, killing one of our brothers in the process. That was a dark day, but we got retribution for him. And then some.
Wiping out a whole MC has given us an even stronger reputation.
My mind is whirring with memories of the past and the recent present. The more I think about it, the more I start to doubt what I’m worrying over.
Does King have a real woman he needs saved?
Or does he plan on using the Veil Line for his own gains?
That doesn’t sit right, King isn’t like that.
Officers hold things close to their chest and, a lot of the time, no one knows what King is thinking.
He always has a plan, is always ten steps ahead of everyone else.
It feels as if things are changing. Whatever King is up to, he’s involving me. Maybe it’s because of my association with Veil, but it could be more.
People often mistake my laid back, southern charm as uninterested or they think I only want to work on my machinery, doing things for the officers when I’m asked.
What they don’t realize is, King isn’t the only one who sees beyond the surface.