28. Willow
28
WILLOW
When the door slams open and someone comes stomping in. I scream in surprise, clutching the sheets to me. Blackout bounces off the bed to see who it is, not caring one bit that he could knock someone out with his morning wood.
“Willow still here?” Skyhigh's voice is asking and he's not sounding happy.
Did I do something? He's not jealous, is he? They promised me that wasn't a thing, and so far they've acted like that's true. But if not that, then what?
“Yeah? What the fuck's going on?” Blackout steps back, inked arms crossed over his chest, making room for Skyhigh to come around the corner and see me.
Angry or not, Skyhigh pauses a moment when he sees that all I'm wearing is Blackout's sheet. He grins. “Looks like I missed out on a good time last night.”
“The day’s still young.” Blackout gestures at the bed, looking ready to hop back in for a three-way.
Skyhigh shakes his head. “Hellfire wants all of us up in his office. Including you, Willow.”
“Me? Why does he want to talk to me? Am I in trouble?”
“Not exactly. Hellfire thinks you might have some info that could be useful, and he wants to be the one asking.” Skyhigh sounds vaguely apologetic while he explains, which is really out of character for him.
Blackout, who's already pulled on jeans and black T-shirt that molds to his chest, finds my underwear on the floor and my bra over the back of his couch. My jeans ended up under the bed, and my top is on the kitchen counter for some reason. Must've been after we picked up the pizza last night. “Guess I don't have time to go home and change?”
“Sorry babe. We're heading straight there.”
Wonderful. I hesitate for a moment, but then just shrug and flip the sheets aside. They've all seen me naked. I pull everything on and run my fingers through my hair, and then we're out the door. I have to admit that I never imagined I'd make the walk of shame to Hellfire's office. For not being in trouble, this feels really ominous.
As we enter the church through the side entrance, Dragon comes jogging to join us from the garage. He's shirtless, and there are oil stains on his jeans and his side, right next to his six pack. “What’s going on?”
“Hellfire wants to talk to Willow.”
Dragon frowns. “Count me in.”
“Come,” Hellfire snaps when we knock on the door.
Skyhigh leads the way, while Blackout and Dragon follow behind me like an honor guard. It makes me feel better. At least a little.
The room is still full of massive wooden furniture from when it was the sacristy, but it’s clearly been an office for quite a while. Bonnie is there waiting for us. She smiles reassuringly when I come in which makes me feel a little better.
Hellfire acknowledges us with a nod. “Sit.”
I take a chair next to Bonnie, feeling safer with her at my side. Skyhigh sits across from me while Blackout and Dragon choose to stand, leaning their backs to the wall.
“Okay, what's going on?” I look around at all the serious faces. “You guys are scaring me.”
“I need you to tell me everything you know about Tanner. Why the fuck are you asking about him?” Hellfire leans back in his chair, putting his boot up on his desk and watches me under furrowed brows.
I blink. “What? Why are we talking about him?” I glance over at Bonnie.
She nods. “It’s fine, just tell him what you told me.”
“Um…” I told Tanner I wouldn't tell, but the Outlaw Sons have done a lot more to earn my loyalty than he has. “I found a box of his things in my house. It was just some old junk, like clothes and pocket watch, stuff like that, but there was a jacket with his name on it and a note with a phone number that looked like my grandmother’s writing. I called it out of curiosity and left a message. He never called me back or anything, but a couple days ago he just showed up at my house to collect his stuff.”
“Hold up. You had him i n your hous e and you didn't fucking tell us?” The darkness in Dragon's voice sends chills racing through me. “He coulda fucking hurt you.”
“Okay, for starters, I don’t have to ask your permission to talk to people, and just to be clear it’s not like I invited him over for lunch. He just showed up.” I glare at the guys. Possessiveness can be hot, but there are limits. “He seemed a little… off, but he didn't do anything. Wanted to get his things and look around a little. He told me he used to be in the club but it got dangerous and he had to leave.” I feel a little bad saying this because they seem nice enough, but it’s what Tanner told me. “He said he had to hide out with her for a while to get back on his feet, and that when he left the club came for him. Killed his dog.”
“What the fuck?” Hellfire growls. “Nobody fucking came for Tanner and they wouldn’t have hurt his fucking dog. Clearly it ended up dead but it wasn’t us.” He draws a deep breath. “Tanner was older than me and had been around for a while when I joined. Back in the old days, the club was mostly just an excuse to fight, drink and fuck.”
I can't help myself. “Isn't that how it is now?”
Skyhigh laughs openly at that, and Blackout chuckles.
Hellfire glares at them until they shut up, then allows himself a chuckle of his own. “Yeah, but General was the one that pulled us together and wanted to get fucking organized. Maybe we're a little rough around the edges, but nothing like the chaos back then. I almost left as soon as I joined. It was intoxicating for a while, but it got old real quick. That's how I got so well along with General, 'cause we were looking for the same things. Tanner didn't like it. He was used to doing whatever the hell he wanted. He was unreliable, so when he left we didn’t give a shit.” He pauses. “The ones that mattered anyway.”
Bonnie leans forwards. “Is that what you remember? General made him choose after we lost Mercy and Hardtack. Couldn’t prove it was his fault, but he blamed Tanner for being sloppy.”
Hellfire turns, looking irritated to be surprised. “He was involved? I was still fresh off being sworn in. Nobody was sharing shit like that with me back then.”
She shakes her head. “General kept it quiet. People were pissed. If he made it clear he suspected Tanner’s slip up cost us lives, Tanner would be resting in pieces in the town dump. But he wasn't sure enough, and Tanner had been around since the start so he wanted to give him an out.”
“Fuck,” Hellfire and Blackout let out at the same time.
“Anything else you can remember, Willow?” Hellfire asks.
I run through the conversation in my head, viewing it through a very different lens. Tanner sounds like bad news, and he was in my freaking house while I was there alone. “He was a little too friendly if that makes sense, but no, nothing I could put my finger on. Dragon called when he was there and I told him he was my boyfriend and I was going to meet him at the club.”
Skyhigh quirks an eyebrow. “Just one boyfriend? What's wrong with me and Blackout?”
“For fuck's sake.” Hellfire glares at him. “Who you fuck on your free time is none of my damn business, but you fucking keep it out of my office, clear?”
Skyhigh salutes.
Biting my lip not to smile, I focus on the story. “When I said my boyfriend was in the Outlaw Sons, he got really cagey, but I thought that made sense after the story he told me. He knew details about the house, so it seemed truthful enough. Wait, do you want his number? I’ve still got it.” I pull my phone out of my pocket.
Hellfire yanks it out of my hand and dials. He listens in silence. “Fuck. Disconnected. Must've decided to burn that link before we caught on.
“So…” Dragon draws it out. “I get that there’s bad blood here, but why the hell is it all popping up now? The only real connection to our current problem is that his dog had the same name as the informant.”
Hellfire nods. “I know, which is another reason I called you in here. Bone finally got in touch. Brutus has new information and Bone played hard to get, forcing him to do the meeting in person because the last couple tips have gotten fucked up. I was just planning on grilling Willow about what she found, but if she’s actually seen him…” His hard eyes focus on me. “Can we trust her?”
All three of my men look insulted that he’d even ask.
“Of course,” Skyhigh answers.
I’m a little nervous about where this is going, but knowing the trust doesn’t just go one way feels really nice. “What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to be there when Brutus shows up.” He holds up his hand when it looks like there might be a mutiny at the suggestion. “All you have to do is confirm if it’s him or not.”
“I don’t like it,” Blackout grumbles. Dragon nods in agreement.
“I’ll do it.”
“Hellfire, if it’s really Tanner, you know who you should call.” Bonnie sounds uncomfortable saying it and from the shadow that passes over Hellfire's face, there's probably a good reason.
He nods, but looks incredibly unhappy about it. “Motherfucker. Alright, everyone out.”
“Should I report to Chafik?” Skyhigh asks on the way out.
Hellfire shakes his head. “Not until after we know if Tanner’s our man.”