26. Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Six
Mason
“ C hurch!” I called into the garage before flicking the lights on and off just to make sure no one ignored me. “Let’s go!”
When a minute passed and no one came out, I turned off the lights and started back toward the clubhouse, muttering about electric bills even though that was actually the furthest thing from my mind. Problem was, the part of the shit from the bar that Levi was going to talk about wasn’t the part I wanted to deal with.
Hearing those gunshots and knowing that Jenna and Evie were inside Rocky’s was the worst moment of my life. I’d done a lot of shit over the years, been in a lot of scary situations and had the scars to prove it, but I’d never been as terrified as I was in those moments when I didn’t know if they were safe.
And if I was going to be completely honest, Evie was the first person I’d been thinking of. Maybe it made me an asshole that my sister hadn’t been number one, but that was just how it happened.
“I think we’ve got everyone,” Tucker said as he met me on the porch. He looked over at Jenna who was standing near the door, but not inside, like she was going to defy Levi even if it was just the difference of a couple feet. “Isabel on her way?”
“She’ll be here in ten minutes,” Jenna said, glaring at both of us. “Is someone at the gate to let her in while ya’ll are in your meeting?”
“Lara,” Tucker said. “I asked her and Junkyard’s old lady to keep an eye out. And before you ask—yes, they know Isabel’s coming so you don’t have to worry about them shooting your fiancée by accident.”
Jenna pointed at me and then at Tucker. “Before you go in, the two of you listen to me good. I don’t know what’s going on with you and Evie, but if I get a call that any of you are treating her badly, I’m telling Mom.”
“Shit.” Tucker rubbed the back of his neck and scuffed the toe of his boot on the porch like he was some scrawny teenager again. “Why’d you gotta pull the Mom card?”
“I mean it,” Jenna said. “And you tell Levi too. I saw the way the three of you were being at Rocky’s, and I get that you needed some time to process, but if you don’t make things right with her, I’m gonna put my foot so far up your asses that you’ll taste my Manolo Blahniks.”
I winced at the image, but didn’t question that she could do it. Some women who were the only girl and the youngest ended up sheltered and na?ve. Jenna had taken it as a challenge.
With Jenna’s threat hanging over our heads, Tucker and I went inside and found a couple of empty seats at the bar. Levi was already up front, sitting on the platform we used as a stage whenever we needed something or someone to be easily seen. His eyes caught ours and we both nodded, letting him know that everything had been handled on our end of things.
“All right.” His voice easily carried over the low talking, and he waited a few seconds to let people finish up whatever they’d been saying before he continued. “The Black Cobras just shot up Rocky’s Bar.”
The atmosphere in the room shifted immediately, the air filled with the sort of buzz that came with violence and a desire for revenge. Every man was on edge now, waiting for the rest of what Levi had to say.
“Ya’ll know this isn’t the first time in the past couple days that they’ve done shit like this.” Levi nodded in my direction. “They went after us at Nona’s parents’ place. Junkyard’s shoulder got fucked up and Mason was shot. Now, I know some of ya’ll thought we should’ve gone after them right then, but I didn’t want to start something until I knew more of what was going on. Except, waiting seems to just have made ’em think that we’re not gonna fight back.”
“Anyone hurt at Rocky’s?” Sweeper called out the question. “Kayla was working today.”
Levi shook his head. “My brothers and I showed up just as the Cobras started shooting, and chased them off. I recognized two of the shooters as enforcers for the Cobras. I didn’t see Harley Quinn’s bike, but we all know those enforcers don’t do shit without his say-so.”
Now I understood why Levi had been so sure it was the Cobras when Tucker and I hadn’t been able to say it definitely. He was right. I’d gone head-to-head with a couple of Quinn’s enforcers, and they had the sort of blind, dumb loyalty that meant they’d never stop to think if something they were doing was right or not.
Yeah, I was loyal to my MC and to my brother, but I liked to think I had enough honor that if I was ever told to do something like shoot into a civilian business at random, I’d take a minute. Not that Levi would ever tell anyone to do something like that, but he hadn’t always been in charge.
“Ya’ll know that one of the things the Thunder Riders pride themselves on is protecting our territory and the people in it, especially if we have claim to those people.” Levi’s voice was still even, but his eyes were flashing now, a sure sign that he wasn’t as calm and cool as he sounded. “You heard Sweeper say his sister was there. Well, so was mine.”
That got a reaction from the men. All of them had met Jenna at one time or another, and they treated her like their own family.
“Jenna and Evie Hayes, the woman who’s been staying here under our protection, were both in Rocky’s, so that’s three people with direct connections to our MC. And there might’ve been more.” Levi stood up. “So we’re gonna ride on the Cobras, show them that we’re not gonna take them coming after our people or our turf. I’m guessing they’re gonna count on us coming in half-cocked, but I’ve got a plan. We’re waiting two hours. Long enough for them to think that we’re not coming. Label us as pussies. Get themselves thinking they’re invincible. Won’t be long enough for them to do anything else, though. It’ll be that sweet spot of time where their guard’ll be down, but before they’ll have another target.”
“Smart,” I said quietly.
Tucker nodded his agreement.
“Anyone got any problems with how we’re doing things?” Levi asked.
“As long as I get to cut the heads off some Cobras, I’m good,” Sweeper said, his usually laid-back expression one of pure violence.
“All right,” Levi said. “Be ready to roll out in two hours. Sober up if you need to. Get your bikes and weapons ready.”
As church ended, Levi came over to where Tucker and I waited.
“Good plan,” I said.
“Thanks.” He glanced toward the front door. “Jenna okay?”
“She threatened to kick our asses if we don’t make things right with Evie,” Tucker said.
Levi shook his head. “Evie should’ve listened when we told her to stay here. Not sure what else there is to say.”
“Maybe we should ask her if she has something to say,” Tucker suggested.
Levi barked a laugh. “You two know Evie as well as I do. What are the chances she doesn’t have something to say?”
I chuckled at that because he was right, but it didn’t change what I needed to say. “Still, if we’re gonna be heading out into something dangerous, we should probably make sure we’re doing it with our heads clear.”
“We’re not telling her what we’re doing.” Levi’s tone was the one he used when he was being the president and not our brother. “That’s club business and none of hers.”
I wanted to ask if he was keeping the other old ladies in the dark, but I already knew the answer. The club rule was that most club business was off-limits to sluts, but not to old ladies or prospects. Only the sort of shit that was absolutely need-to-know, the stuff we didn’t even tell prospects, was kept from the old ladies. And even then it was usually only the ones whose men weren’t directly involved.
And while we’d talked about sharing Evie, none of us had brought up what exactly that meant within the MC. We’d never label her as one of the club sluts, there for anyone to proposition, but that didn’t mean we’d publicly claimed her as ours either, and that meant she wasn’t our old lady.
Hell, I didn’t even know if three of us could claim the same woman. Yeah, we weren’t the only ones in the MC who’d shared a woman, but it’d only ever been for sex. We were in new territory for anything else.
“Fine,” I said. “But we still need to deal with this shit between us. If we’ve got that hanging over us, we’re not gonna be totally focused on what we’re doing, and that’s dangerous.”
Levi sighed. “You’re right.”
Feeling relieved that I wasn’t going to have to fight him more on this, I followed my brothers to Levi’s room. It wasn’t until he paused to unlock the door and grab her purse from where it’d been sitting next to the door that I realized he’d locked her in.
Damn.
We were lucky if she didn’t take our heads off as soon as we stepped inside.
“What the hell, Levi?!” Evie shouted. “You locked me in here without even my phone!”
“We just want to keep you safe,” Tucker said.
Evie turned on him, her eyes flashing. “Did you know he locked the door?”
Tucker shook his head, but Evie didn’t look like she believed him. And then she turned on me.
“What about you, Mason? Are you onboard with this whole ‘keep her safe by locking her up’ thing?”
As I looked at her, all I could think was that we were about to go into a dangerous situation. No matter how careful we were or how invincible we felt, there was always a chance we wouldn’t come back. It happened to my dad when he was barely forty. There one minute and gone the next.
So I did the only thing I could.
I kissed her.