Chapter 8
Pyre
Grinning as I watched Warrant scowl at Demo, I sat down in my usual spot for church. It had been a peaceful week. For me anyway. Demo had already given me an earful about letting Warrant know he was the one who’d set up the bet. But he’d had the courtesy of doing that at the beginning of the week.
After that he’d been too busy dodging Warrant’s retaliation attempts to bother with me. And Warrant was too busy trying to exact his revenge.
Cypher frowned at me as he took his seat at the head of the table. “You’re in a good mood.”
The rest of that phrase hung silently in the air. For once.
I shrugged at him, but didn’t respond. Between getting Warrant off my back and finally making up my mind to give things with Rae a try, he was right, I was in a good mood.
It’d taken me a week of considering every outcome, but I’d come to the conclusion that having an old lady wouldn’t be a bad thing, when it came down to that.
And if not, then I got to fuck a sexy woman and we’d likely be able to separate as friends.
She seemed like the kind who wouldn’t hold a grudge.
Of course the move she pulled on that cowboy hinted that maybe she had a darker side. But I was willing to risk it. I got the feeling that she was going to be worth it.
“Alright,” Cypher said, pulling my attention to him. “Scythe, Glitch, what do the two of you have to report on Mark Dolan?”
Cypher had both Scythe and Glitch keeping an eye on the leader of the Iron Circle Crew. Scythe had been making weekly trips over to Cheyenne just to follow the fucker around. While Glitch kept a close eye on him from his computer.
“He’s mobilizing,” Scythe told us.
“I’m shocked it took him this long,” Demo replied.
“I’m not,” Cypher countered. “Took him a bit to even figure out that his brother was dead and hadn’t just skipped out on him.”
“That would’ve been a stupid move on Jack’s part. Taking off with all the drugs and cash would just ensure that his brother would follow him,” Warrant said.
“As the leader of the crew, there’s no way Mark would let his brother do that,” Jury said in agreement.
“Families in this line of work do stupid shit. Or get ideas above their station and think that they can branch out on their own,” Cypher countered. “I bet Dolan already had a contingency plan on how to deal with his brother in case he ever fucked him over.”
“Which is exactly why Mark kept digging,” Glitch agreed.
“Well, that and the fact that the entire crew disappeared with Jack. If he’d been able to find some of them, he might have believed his brother stole from him and took off,” I added.
“The fact that he didn’t land on our doorstep sooner means that Forge never ratted us out,” Warrant told Cypher.
There was some debate on whether or not he should’ve let the Iron Circle Crew member go when he had, twice. But Warrant was an excellent judge of character, and we’d backed him up when he made that decision. The fact that Forge had saved Riggs’s little girl had weighed heavily in his favor also.
Cypher gave him a flat stare. “Give it a rest. I already said I wouldn’t kill him on sight if we see him again. But the fucker will need to prove himself if we do. Three times is one too many for my comfort.”
“Fair enough,” Warrant said, leaning back in his chair, satisfied with Cypher’s word on the matter.
“What do you mean by Dolan’s mobilizing?” Rotor asked Scythe.
“Recruiting mostly,” Glitch answered instead.
“We took out a large chunk of his force,” Scythe continued. “He needed to replace them. Wyoming’s not exactly a big state, well, geographically it is, but not a lot of people here. He likely has to reach out to other contacts in bigger cities.”
“Is he back in Sentinel?” Cynic asked, speaking for the first time.
“Not sure. I haven’t seen him come here,” Scythe said.
Glitch shook his head. “If he has, he’s been keeping a low profile. It’s more likely that he has someone doing that for him. A new guy to take over his brother’s position.”
“Which means we need to be on the lookout for anything new,” Cypher said, looking over at Warrant. “New dealers, new suppliers, anything that might signal that Dolan is coming back.”
“Well, we know he’s coming back,” Jury said. “We killed his brother, his middleman, and the whole crew here in Sentinel. He’ll be back with a vengeance.”
Cypher nodded and conceded the point. “I meant back into the drug trade here. We already have enough trouble with some of the locals getting it into their heads to start up meth labs. We don’t need this fucker bringing his shit back here.
Bad enough they had a small time grow operation in those barns, but Glitch figured out it’s bigger than that. ”
“Bigger?” Demo asked. “What kind of bigger?”
“No place in Cheyenne to grow marijuana,” Glitch told us. “He’s been producing Ecstasy there and shipping it all over the fucking country.”
That wasn’t good. If he started his drug operation back up in Sentinel it wasn’t likely to be pot.
Not since it was discovered the first time and wiped out.
Ecstasy would be easier to conceal and he knew that whoever—us—had taken out his crew would be watching the areas they set up to grow in.
He could find new spots to manufacture Ecstasy that didn’t require fields.
I could tell from my brother’s faces they were all processing what Glitch was saying and coming to the same conclusions. It would be a bitch to get him out of here if that happened. And worse, if he started selling here, we’d see a spike in crime and death.
“I’ll talk to Owen,” Warrant said.
“What’re you going to tell him?” Rotor asked.
Warrant shrugged. “I’ll think of something.”
“In the meantime, I’m putting you guys back on patrols through town,” Cypher said. “Warrant, Scythe make up a schedule. Keep your eyes open for anything new,” he told the rest of us. “Glitch will be keeping an eye on things in Cheyenne, but one way or another Dolan will be coming here.”
“Why not take the fight to him?” Jury asked. “Go on the offensive.”
“On the off chance we’re wrong,” Demo answered instead. “Why start shit so close to home?”
“He’s building a fucking army,” Cypher said. “He’s planning on fighting. I’d rather have the home field advantage. Plus, we can lure him out into areas without so many fucking people. We go to Cheyenne, there’s going to be casualties, collateral damage. I’m not willing to risk that.”
“Not to mention the police force is a lot larger there,” Warrant said. “Harder to evade the cops than it would be to deal with them here.”
“Makes sense,” Jury replied with a sigh. “I’m just fucking sick of waiting.”
“Same, Brother,” Cypher told him. “But for now, it’s our best bet. If anything changes, we’ll bring the fight to him.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. I listened as Cypher finished up church, waiting until it was over and I could start phase one of my plan.
Groaning as Jury threw an arm over my shoulder, I scowled at him as he fell in step beside me.
“Where we going?”
“We aren’t going anywhere,” I told him, then sighed as Rotor came into view in my peripheral. “What are you even fucking doing here?”
I’d left the minute Cypher had released us, trying to evade both Warrant and Demo before they could follow me. I didn’t need their brand of ‘help’ with what I was about to do. During that escape attempt I somehow picked up the interest of these two assholes.
How does no one in this club mind their own fucking business?
“Saw you sneaking out,” Rotor said with a shrug. “Looked like you could use some help.”
“Nope. Don’t need help,” I told him. “You can head out.”
“Nah,” Jury said, squeezing his arm and pulling me closer. “We have nothing better to do.”
“I believe it,” I muttered. He just grinned at me.
“So what are we doing?” Rotor asked again.
“I think I know,” Jury said with a sly grin.
“Fuck off. I don’t-” I broke off when my target came out of the pet store.
She’d used her back to open the door and was walking backward as she said goodbye to whoever she’d been talking to. She was holding a box in her arms.
“Knew it,” Jury chuckled. “He’s got a thing for death chick.”
“Course he does,” Rotor said, as though everyone knew that and Jury was a dumbass for reiterating it.
“Stop calling her death chick,” I growled at him.
“We will when you give her another nickname,” Jury said.
“We don’t make the rules,” Rotor said with an exaggerated shrug.
“The fuck you don’t,” I told them. “Those are made up rules. We don’t always call Ainsley “Sheriff” just because that’s Warrant’s nickname for her.”
“We don’t,” Rotor agreed. “But if we use a nickname for her it’s always Sheriff.”
“I fucking hate you,” I grumbled, shrugging Jury’s arm off my shoulder. “Just go home.”
“We’re not about to miss this,” Jury told me.
“Yeah, this is way more fun,” Rotor said.
Ignoring them, I headed in Rae’s direction.
She turned, caught my gaze, and blinked at us a couple times as though she was trying to figure out where we came from and why we were there without having to ask the questions.
She looked over her shoulder at the closed door, but didn’t go back inside.
She squared her shoulders and faced us as though she didn’t have a care in the world.
I wished I could read her mind. Her expression was serene and there was a smile on her face, but her eyes were a storm of emotion and I wanted to know what she was thinking. “Hey.”
Her beautiful brown eyes were like amber in the sunlight. “H-hi, Pyre. Jury, Rotor,” she said, sounding a little breathless. There was a pink blush spreading over her cheeks.
She’d didn’t seem thrilled to be standing there talking with me.
Probably because I took a week after nearly kissing her to come speak to her.
I was a deliberate man. I didn’t make up my mind in a split second the way Warrant did.
Considering outcomes was as integral to me as breathing.
But now I’d decided to make Rae mine. I watched her shuffle restlessly as my brothers greeted her. This was going to be fun.