Chapter 43
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
King
Church had been in session for almost an hour, and we had accomplished exactly two things.
Colt had confirmed we had enough money to replace the damaged security cameras around the back side of the property, and Jack had managed to piss off every man sitting at the table.
A productive fucking evening by Silver Shadows standards.
“I’m just saying, if we’re replacing them anyway, why not get the ones with the speakers?” Jack asked as he leaned back in his chair. “Then when some asshole gets too close to the fence, Nav can tell him to fuck off without leaving his computer.”
Nav looked up from his laptop. “Why the hell would I want to talk to strangers?”
“Because you already spend your entire life talking to a computer,” Jack replied.
“Because I don’t want to talk to people.”
Gunner snorted from his seat beside him. “Can’t argue with that logic.”
Jack pointed across the table at Nav. “You could change your voice. Make yourself sound like some creepy little kid. Imagine some fucker sneaking around the fence in the middle of the night and hearing, ‘I can see you’.”
“Jack,” I warned.
He ignored me. “Or better yet, one of those clown voices.”
Blade rubbed a hand over his face. “Why the fuck would we want our security system to sound like a clown?”
“To scare people.”
“You know what scares people?” Gunner asked, his expression flat. “A fucking gun.”
“Old-fashioned.”
“Effective,” Mimic muttered.
Jack turned toward him. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”
Mimic stared at him.
Jack waited.
Mimic grunted.
“I don’t know what the fuck that means.”
“It means shut up,” Cash told him. Mimic gave another grunt, and Cash smiled. “See?”
“How do you know?” Jack demanded.
“I speak Mimic.”
Jingles chuckled from beside Mimic. “Bullshit. Indie barely speaks Mimic.”
Mimic slowly turned his head toward Jingles.
Jingles immediately lifted both hands. “No offense.”
“My old lady taught me,” Cash replied.
“My old lady hasn’t taught me,” Jack whined.
“’Cause your old lady likes me more,” Mimic snarked. Every eye in the room focused on the youngest patched member of the Silver Shadows. It wasn’t often that Mimic said anything, much less something that sounded like a joke.
I sat back in my chair and watched my officers act like complete fucking idiots.
Cash was on my right, Gunner on my left with Blade beside him.
Jack and Colt had spent half of church arguing over expenses.
Jingles seemed determined to encourage whatever stupidity Jack started, while Mimic spoke only when absolutely necessary.
Nav sat at the far end with his laptop open, probably doing six things none of us understood while pretending he wasn’t listening to every word.
For the first time in months, church almost felt normal.
Then my phone rang.
The name on the screen killed that feeling immediately.
Zeus.
Cash leaned slightly toward me. “That motherfucker ever call with good news?”
“Not once.”
“Send him to voicemail,” Jack suggested.
I picked up the phone. “President of the Silver Shadows Motorcycle Club, home of damaged televisions and apparently haunted security systems.”
Silence met me from the other end.
Then Zeus said, “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Someone laughed in the background—Hades, I assumed.
I smiled. “Never mind. What the fuck do you want?”
“You always answer the phone like an asshole?”
“Only when you call.”
“Asshole.”
Hades laughed again.
Zeus growled, “Hades, shut the fuck up.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Hades replied.
“You’re laughing.”
“Still not talking.”
I hit the speaker button and set my phone in the middle of the table.
Zeus immediately asked, “You just put me on speaker, didn’t you?”
“My officers are in church.”
“All of them?”
Mimic grunted.
Zeus went silent.
I leaned back in my chair. “Problem?”
“No.”
Mimic snorted.
“Goddamn it,” Zeus muttered.
Cash bit back a smile. “Good evening, Uncle Zeus.”
I turned and looked at the shit-eating grin on my VP’s face. There were a few months when I wasn’t sure he’d come back. But Kytten had saved him. He’d done the same for her. Finding out Zeus was Kytten’s uncle had turned him into a smartass.
“Fuck you too, Cash.”
“What did I say?” Cash asked, his voice holding a fake tone of offense.
“I’m not your fucking uncle.”
Jack leaned toward the phone. “Hey, Zeus.”
“Jackass,” Zeus muttered.
Jack looked offended. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what you think it means.”
I rapped my knuckles against the table. “As entertaining as this family reunion is, you didn’t call to shoot the shit. What do you want?”
The change on the other end was immediate. Zeus didn’t answer for a few seconds, and when he did, the sarcasm was gone from his voice.
“Arizona Stone is dead.”
The men around the table quieted.
I didn’t mourn the bastard. Arizona had sat in this very clubhouse helping plan for the attack, then put a bullet in Montana’s stomach when everything went to hell. Whatever loyalty he’d once claimed to the Federation had died right along with that bullet leaving his gun.
“How?” I asked.
“Arizona went after F.I.R.E.,” Zeus answered.
My gaze snapped to Nav. He was already watching me. I didn’t have to ask whether this was news to him. Nav gave me one short nod before turning his attention back to the phone.
Of course he fucking knew.
“Arizona went after F.I.R.E.?” Gunner asked, disbelief sharpening his voice.
“That’s what I said,” Zeus replied.
Blade leaned forward, forearms braced on the table. “What the fuck did he expect to happen?”
“Apparently not what happened,” Hades answered from the background.
“Hades,” Zeus warned.
“What? I’m sitting here.”
“You’re being a pain in my ass.”
“That’s part of the VP job description.”
Cash chuckled. “Can confirm.”
I ignored them and asked Zeus, “Why did Arizona go after them?”
“Because the whole fucking Stone family is apparently determined to make my life miserable from the grave, prison, or wherever the hell they end up.”
“That narrowed it down beautifully.”
“King,” Zeus growled.
“Get the fuck on with it.” Any brevity I’d had when I answered the phone had sunk when I realized one of my officers had been keeping shit from me.
Zeus released an irritated breath. “Arizona was involved with Dakota and Zephyr. What we suspected about those two trying to take over the Federation was only part of it.”
Nav’s fingers began moving over his keyboard.
I caught the movement but kept my attention on the phone. “What changed?”
“Dakota’s dead too.”
That landed harder.
Nav stopped typing.
Cash straightened beside me. Gunner’s expression hardened, and even Jack lost the grin he’d been wearing through most of the call.
“Confirmed?” I asked.
“Very fucking confirmed,” Zeus replied.
Hades spoke before I could ask the obvious question. “Lettie killed him.”
Jack’s eyebrows shot up. “Who the fuck is Lettie?”
“My queen,” Hades supplied.
Zeus groaned loudly. “Here we fucking go.”
Hades’ voice remained perfectly calm. “She’s my queen.”
“She’s your old lady.”
“Queen.”
“I swear to fucking Christ, Hades.”
“Pretty sure Christ doesn’t give a shit what I call my woman.”
Blade covered his mouth with his hand, but his shoulders shook.
I smiled. “I’m with Hades. Woman kills Dakota Stone, she can pick her own title.”
“Thank you,” Hades said.
“Fuck both of you,” Zeus snapped.
Mimic snorted.
“You too,” Zeus added.
Mimic leaned toward the phone. “Didn’t say shit.”
For half a second, there was silence, then Hades started laughing. Jack slapped a hand over his mouth.
I shook my head. “How did Dakota end up with Hades’ woman?”
“He took her from the town’s harvest festival,” Zeus said, and the irritation vanished from his voice again. “Apparently, he’d been coming into Athens for years under the name Zander. Nobody knew who the fuck he was.”
My amusement disappeared with his.
I knew what it was like to have someone take your woman. There wasn’t anything funny about the fear that came with searching and wondering whether you’d find her alive.
“She okay?” I asked.
“She’s fine,” Hades answered immediately. His voice was controlled, but the edge underneath told me exactly how close he’d come to losing his shit. “Dakota made the mistake of giving her access to water.”
Jack frowned. “Water?”
“Poison,” Hades replied.
Jack’s face cleared. “Oh. Fuck, I like her.”
“You’re never meeting her.”
“I’m happily married.”
“Don’t care.”
Jingles laughed. “At least he’s reasonable.”
“Would you be?” Hades asked.
Jingles considered it for half a second. “Nope.”
“Exactly.”
I interrupted before the entire conversation turned into a debate over whether any of us could be trusted around Hades’ queen. “You said Arizona, Dakota, and Zephyr were working together. What did Dakota tell you?”
“Not me,” Zeus said. “He decided confession was part of the entertainment and told Lettie everything.”
“That was stupid,” Colt remarked.
“Arrogant men love to talk,” Gunner said.
“Dakota was fucking arrogant,” Mimic muttered.
Hades spoke more quietly. “Lettie kept him talking on purpose. He thought she was scared and stupid enough to believe whatever shit he fed her.”
“His last mistake,” Cash said.
“One of them,” Hades agreed.
Zeus continued, “Dakota told her Remi was supposed to belong to him. George Stone promised her to him as some kind of reward. He blamed Reaper for coming back from the dead.”
“Jesus Christ,” Blade muttered.
“He also talked about Diana,” Zeus said, his voice tightening. “She was supposed to stay locked in that asylum. According to Dakota, keeping my sister there gave George leverage over my father.”
My eyes went straight to Mimic.
The change in him was instant.
His shoulders locked, and the hand resting on the table curled slowly into a fist. He didn’t snort this time. Didn’t grunt. His stare remained fixed on my phone.
“My mother,” Mimic said quietly.
“Yeah,” Zeus replied. “Your mother.”
Mimic leaned forward, his forearms braced against the table. “They kept her there to control Kronos?”
“That’s what Dakota said.”
Mimic’s jaw flexed. “And the motherfucker left her there.”