Chapter 23
Chapter
Twenty-Three
INK
A s much as I didn’t want to leave her alone so soon, alone time with Evan will be good for her. From what I gathered, Sutton isn’t used to this and honestly fucking needs it. I can’t imagine not having a single person in my life I can talk to. Whether it’s deep or just bullshitting.
And Evan is the perfect person to break her in. She doesn’t talk so much to where you think it’s annoying and she’s antisocial as fuck, so you know she isn’t going to drag you off to some place you don’t wanna be.
“She get settled?” Cain asks as I approach our bikes.
“Showed her the room and she was gettin’ settled when I left.”
Her face after I dropped that bomb on her will be stuck in my fucking head all weekend. I just know it.
The look of hope and heat that flared in her eyes was almost enough to make me tell Cain to fuck off and have Cyrus go instead. If I didn’t know she needs the space to process and get her head on straight, it would have been a done deal.
“Evan will take care of her. Knowing her, she’ll make drinks because she’s feeling just as fucking awkward.” Cain snickers, making me snort.
He’s probably fucking right.
“Good. She needs to start learnin’ how to live.”
“No one better to learn from than our fucked-up family.”
“Who and what the fuck are we teaching?” Hash asks as he joins us.
“Sutton learnin’ how to live. You ready?”
“I was born ready for this shit.”
“Stay focused and clock everything. I don’t trust them. If anything seems off, call me.” Cain slaps me on the back before walking back into the clubhouse, leaving us to it.
“What’s the game plan once we get the money?”
“Come back and count that shit. I want to take a different way home, just in case they’re watching us.”
Hash eyes me. “You think we’re gonna have a problem?”
“Don’t know.” I shrug. “I really fuckin’ hope not. They’re really fucking stupid or they’re gettin’ way too cocky in thinkin’ they’re gettin’ away with this shit and we haven’t noticed.”
Hash grunts, “That’s for damn sure.”
“Let’s ride out. I want to get there before them again.”
We made it to the spot first, giving us the advantage of not coming into something blind. They could still ambush us, but if we see more than what we know is coming, we have a better chance of getting out.
I’m not one to back down from shit, but I’m old enough now to understand when I’m outnumbered. And now that I have someone else to think about there’s been this almost panic feeling that pounds lightly in my chest that something could keep me from making good on my promise.
I wasn’t fucking around when I told her everything is mine. I can only pussyfoot around this for a little bit longer and then I’m done with the space.
“They’re late,” Hash grumbles.
“Again,” I add.
I’m about done with these motherfuckers.
“They have some fucking balls making us wait for them like we’re their bitch.” Hash crosses his arms on his chest.
“I think Prez is too. He’s goin’ to be fuckin’ pissed when he hears this.”
“Good, because fuck this noise. Like we don’t have shit to do.”
I told Sutton that I put my number in her phone, but what I didn’t tell her was that I also texted myself from her phone so I would have her number too. Knowing her, she could be bleeding out and I wouldn’t be the one she called. Hell, she probably wouldn’t call anyone because she’s scared.
“Evan and Sutton getting along?”
“Don’t know. They were at the clubhouse, but she wasn’t home when I dropped Sutton off,” I reply before snorting as I adjust my stance to lean into the other leg. “I forgot to grab a key before I left, so I had to pick the lock. Sutton freaked because she thought she was my accomplice to a b the lights getting further and further away until they’re nothing but a blur.
Hash and I arrive back to the clubhouse at the ass crack of dawn. I’m not surprised to find Cain waiting up for us. I figured he wouldn’t leave until he knew what was going on.
“How’d it go?” Cain asks, looking as irritated as I feel that we’re fucking up right now dealing with this bullshit.
“As good as you can expect it to go,” I answer as I take the bag of cash from Hash and follow Cain into church. “How were Sutton and Evan tonight?”
“Don’t know. I didn’t want to leave in case you guys needed something. I’m assuming everything’s good, considering I haven’t heard from her.”
Cain sits at the head of the table while Hash and I take seats on either side of him. No one says a word for a full thirty minutes, the time it takes me to count the money three times just to be sure I got it right.
“It’s short.” I slap the last stack of hundreds on the table.
Cain’s fist slams down on the table, making the piles of cash fly. “I’m done. They’re fucking with the wrong motherfucking people. Call church. Now.”
Hash gets up to go and get the rest of our brothers, leaving me with Cain.
“Were they acting shifty like last time?”
“Nope. They sent an enforcer and a prospect who were way too excited to be doin’ a basic ass drop like that.”
“What fucking pisses me off is they’re not only fucking with the club, but also our money.
We agreed to help them out until their supplier can keep up and this is how they fucking repay us?
Our club doesn’t even mess with coke, so this was a huge fucking favor on our end.
I thought it took balls for their president to come to me to ask, but doing this is what took fucking balls,” Cain rants.
“We need to do somethin’. It took everything in me to not punch the smirk of his fuckin’ face.”
Cain’s brow lowers as he thinks about everything I just told him. “You said he only sent an enforcer and a prospect?”
I nod. “I’m assuming the kid is a prospect. He wasn’t patched in.”
Cain leans back in his chair, the expression on his face matches the one I had to mask—what the fuck?
The guys file in one by one behind Hash, who moves down a seat, leaving the one he was sitting in for Scotch, the VP.
“I’m assuming this shit went south if we’re all getting called in before I’ve taken my morning shit?” Cyrus asks, sounding as tired as I feel. He’s still in pajama pants for fuck’s sake.
“Hash and I got to the spot first, like we always do, so we could hear them comin’ in. This is where it gets fuckin’ shady. The closer they got, all of a sudden half the noise of pipes coming toward us cut out. I think they’re the same ones that followed us out. ”
“They tailed you?” Scotch asks.
“Looked like it to me. Stayed far enough back and didn’t fuck with us, but the message was clear,” Hash answers, leaning back in his chair.
“He sent guys in case you tried something. They’re fucking with us.” Cain bites out, slamming his fist on the table again. “And that shit ends today.”
Scotch’s eyes shoot to me. “Short again?”
I nod. “Yup. Six grand this time.”
He lets out a short laugh. “Unbelievable. That’s a straight slap in the face.”
We all grunt in agreement.
“We have another drop in two weeks already set up with them. A few more of us are going to make a visit. Old friends love surprises, right?” The corner of Cain’s mouth turns up in a sneer.
I crack my knuckles.
I can’t wait for this shit.