19. Dodge
NINETEEN
DODGE
I crane my neck to the side, squatting behind the car as I watch the man across the street.
Footsteps scuff behind me, and I glance back, expecting Razer and blinking in shock when Gage saddles up next to me.
“I thought you’d be home with your old lady and kid,” I say.
He shakes his head. “I’m still prez, and if my club is going to handle business, I’m going to be there.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Mikayla has no idea what we’re about to do, does she?”
His lips pull up into a smirk. “Some things are better left unsaid until I come home ready to fuck.”
“And Shaw?”
Gage shrugs. “Didn’t ask. Not his problem anymore. He’s there to protect Mik and Dillion if needed.”
Creed comes up behind us and nods toward the building. “From what we can tell, he’s got a few guards stationed around him. Not sure who he’s got at the poker table with him, but do we care?”
I exchange a glance with Gage.
“Do we care?” I ask.
My president thinks it over, his jaw tight before he turns to Creed. “Ya think the Sinners will help if we go to war with whoever these fucks are?”
He nods, cracking his knuckles. “I think the Dutchmen as well. They might be going legit, but they understand defending your turf.”
“We have the north chapter too,” I add. While Devil’s Tide has never expanded outside of California, our chapter in the northern part of the state is still a part of our club .
Gage grunts. “They’ve got their own problems. When Tex came down for my patch in as prez, he was telling me they’re struggling to move the last of the product and secure businesses. Some of the men aren’t happy with the direction.”
It’s no surprise; we had a few men turn in their cuts when we said we wouldn’t be running any more guns or drugs.
Most of our businesses are doing fine enough that the flow of money isn’t missed, but the sense of adventure was.
Though, those brothers didn’t have the same vote of confidence to float between clubs like Creed.
“They scratch our back, we scratch theirs,” I say with a shrug.
Gage nods. “Then whatever we need to do, let’s worry about it later. If the sheriffs can’t be bought, the judges and lawyers can. There’s always one.”
I blow out a breath. “Godspeed, brother.” I direct a couple of men to follow me to the other side, so we can surround the building. Either they’re disgustingly confident no one will attack them or stupid and lazy because they have no trip wires or even motion detectors as we move closer .
Razer runs around the corner, and I open the door, gun drawn. I shoot the first man to stand, and then point at the next one who reaches for his waist.
“Pull it and you’re dead,” I grit out. My head is ringing from the shots.
His hand drops, looking over at the man seated in the middle of the table. I move my gun to him. He smirks at me, taking the cigar from his mouth and setting it on the crystal ashtray. Greig is a known sleaze ball in town with multiple shady businesses under his name.
“Devil’s Tide, to what do we owe the displeasure?”
The blatant disrespect makes me angry, but I steady my hand and tilt my chin to stare down at him. We need information more than I need to kill him.
“Someone attacked my old lady, and guess what we found on his phone?”
There’s a brief flash in Greig’s eyes, and his jaw tightens. “Let me guess, my brother is dead.”
I shrug. “Don’t know who your brother is.” There were two phone numbers in the burner phone we found in the guy’s pocket, one leading to another burner and the other leading to Greig .
Greig grabs the phone from the table, dialing a number before I can say something. Another shot goes off, and the guard to his left collapses.
Gage steps up to my side, pissed, and growls out, “Move like that again, and the next bullet goes between your eyes.”
For all we know, the cellphone could have been a detonator and we would have all been screwed. The only thing we have to rely on is Greig’s desire to live himself.
The phone in my pocket rings, and I pull it out, smiling as I wave it in the air. “This belong to your brother then?”
Greig tosses his phone into the wall, standing up. “I’ll kill you!”
Creed shoots him in the shoulder, and the man crumbles back down onto the couch with a moan.
“Don’t threaten any of us again. We are patient predators. We’ll wait for information if it means putting you in the fucking ground,” Gage warns.
Nash sits down next to him, pressing a rag into the wound. “What was your brother doing, guiding a bunch of punk kids into dining and dashing my restaurant and then trashing it?”
Greig frowns, shrugging off Nash’s hand to hold the rag himself. “I don’t know anything about that. I know he was in some debt. The last I spoke to him, we discussed me paying it off if he got sober.” Greig sighs, looking genuinely upset that his brother is gone.
Gage shakes his head. “Who did he owe?”
“Some investors from up north. Something Red Shore. I just know they weren’t as clean as they make themselves out to be.”
I toss the phone onto his lap. “Try calling them and see if you can get them to talk.”
Greig looks at me, disbelief strong in his face. “What the fuck? I have no idea what to say.”
“Come on. You’re a gambler, you know how to bluff,” Razer taunts with a scoff.
Greig and his crew are well-known loan sharks in the area. Since most of them don’t resort to violence, Shaw left them alone. It’s no matter to us if the townspeople are dumb enough to borrow money from them .
“You didn’t let your own brother off the hook? That’s cold.” Creed lets out a low whistle.
Greig glares, sniffling a bit. “I’m just a middleman. The Camorra bankrolls us, and even the family doesn’t owe the Camorra.”
We all wince, and Gage spits on the ground. “Fucking mafia. I didn’t know you were in bed with them.”
The man sinks into himself. “Please, I don’t want to die.”
My prez looks over the dump of a place and shakes his head. “Clean up, and get the fuck out of my town. I don’t want a problem with the Camorra, and I don’t want them near my home, either.”
Greig nods. “They don’t care where I set up shop, as long as I bring them money.”
We shouldn’t let him go, but we already have enough blood on our hands. I know Gage won’t kill unnecessarily, and we could use the guy to check up on things.
Cowen clicks his tongue. “I could clone his devices.”
Greig pales a little, but he doesn’t put up a complaint. I’m sure he’ll agree to anything to save his own life .
I sigh, looking over at Creed. “Call Reaper. We need to clean up the bodies before the police start sniffing around.”
Gage nods at Cowen. “Get it done, and whatever else you need.” Then he looks over at Greig. “We call, you fucking answer. Got it?”
The man nods pathetically. The rest of the men start rearranging the bodies in the room to make it look like we were never here.
“Connection to your cousin, you think? It’s the same investment group buying up properties up the coast,” Gage asks as we leave.
My shoulders slump. “I hope not. He caused enough problems with the club.”
He pats me on the back. “Not your fault, brother.”
I grab his arm and glance around to ensure the rest of the crew has already started to head back. “Maybe not, but my father has been acting strangely. Disappearing for hours at a time, no one can find him.”
“Bear wouldn’t betray the club.”
I shake my head. “We can’t know that. We thought the same about my cousin, no? ”
His tongue drags along his bottom lip, and he raises his hands to lean his head back into them. “Fuck. Do you have any idea where he could be going?”
“No, but the next time I see him I’m going to demand some answers since he left me high and dry on babysitting.” Not that I liked leaving him with Winnie, and it led me to Autumn.
Gage nods, cracking his knuckles. “We’ll save it for another day. Let’s get home to our girls.”