Chapter 5 #2
“I said I’d talk to him, Delilah.”
With a look of defeat, she sighed. “Okay.”
“I’ll be back when I can.”
With that, I closed the door and went down to the conference room to join Viper and the others.
When I walked in, they were already seated and waiting for me to do the same.
As soon as I was settled, Viper announced, “You all know that we brought Danny in last night, and he spent some quality time with Shotgun. I’d like to say that we got everything sorted and this thing with him is done, but unfortunately that isn’t the case. ”
“So, what’s going on?” Axel asked. “Who fucked us over?”
“Can’t say for sure ... at least, not yet.” Viper turned to Menace and asked, “What were you able to find out?”
“Don’t have a lot just yet, but I’m still working on it.
” He took a piece of paper out of his file and handed it over to Viper.
“Lives in Texarkana. From what I can tell, he’s just another go-between.
I tracked the burner he was using, and it looks like he goes to Texas at least once a week, if not more. ”
“Got a name?”
“Not yet.”
“Is he making drug runs to Texas?” I asked.
“That would make sense, but I can’t be certain just yet.”
As Axel looked over at the paper Menace had given Viper, he said, “Not much here. Looks like you have your work cut out for ya.”
“I do, but I’ll get it.” He turned to Shotgun. “Need you to see if Danny knows anything more. Might help to know how he got his start dealing with these guys.”
“No problem. I’ll get him talking.”
“I have no doubt you will,” Menace replied. “Since we have the sister, might be a good idea to have a chat with her as well.”
My stomach twisted into a knot, and I couldn’t stop myself from saying, “We’ve already talked to her. It’s pretty clear that she doesn’t know anything.”
Viper cocked his eyebrow as he told me, “We don’t know that for certain.”
“No, but my gut tells me she’s speakin’ the truth.
” I glanced around the room, and it was clear from their expressions that my brothers were surprised by my declaration.
Hoping to play it off, I shrugged and said, “I don’t see any reason for her to lie ...
not when she’s got nothing to gain and everything to lose. ”
“You might be right, but we’ll never know unless Shotgun has a go with her.”
As if he could sense my unease, Shotgun leaned forward and said, “Let me see what I can get out of Danny first. If he gives us what we need, there’ll be no reason to involve the girl.”
“He may have a point there. No need involving her any more than we have to. Otherwise, we’ll just have another problem to contend with,” Axel added.
The second the words came out of Axel’s mouth Billy the Butcher came to my mind.
He was the club’s “cleaner.” Whenever we had a mess to be cleaned up or a captive that needed to be dealt with, he would take care of it—using any means necessary.
The thought of him handling Delilah made my blood run cold.
I didn’t get why it even bothered me. I knew nothing about her.
It shouldn’t have mattered to me what the brothers did or didn’t do to her.
Since she was already the topic of conversation, I decided to use the opportunity to say, “We’ve got another issue with the girl that needs to be considered. ”
“Oh?” Viper’s brows furrowed as he asked, “And what’s that?”
“She’s got friends ... people she works with who’ll be curious to know why she hasn’t shown up to work. We don’t want folks snooping around and trying to find her, so it might be best to let her contact someone ... make up a reason for being out of touch.”
“Get her phone from Shotgun. You send the messages that need to be sent.”
I nodded, and was relieved when the topic of Delilah quickly changed as Bear asked, “Any word on Rafe? I haven’t had a chance to get down to the infirmary yet. He making it okay?”
“Yeah,” Viper answered. “He’s on the mend. Should be back on his feet in a couple of days.”
“Good.” His expression grew fierce as he added, “Hope Shotgun is giving Danny hell for putting a bullet in our brother.”
“Don’t worry. Danny is getting what’s coming to him,” Viper assured him as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Two hundred grand is a lot of cash. I know you’re all as eager as I am to get this thing dealt with …
and we will, but I don’t want it distracting us from the bigger picture.
We’ve got some leads on a new distributor that we’ll be checking out, and we still have the new club to get up and running. ”
“I’ll be heading over there this morning,” Axel replied. “I want to see if those building permits have cleared so we can get going on the expansion.”
“Good. I’ll check on the liquor license and see if Cassandra has made any progress with getting us some new girls.” Viper stood as he ordered, “The clock is ticking. Let’s get this day rolling.”
As we all started to disperse, Shotgun followed me out the door and into the hall. A look of concern crossed his face as he asked, “Something going on with you that I need to be aware of?”
“No. Everything’s good.”
“You sure?” he pushed. “Sure seems like something is up with you and that girl.”
“You talking about Delilah?” When he just stood there glaring at me, I shook my head. “No, brother. Nothing’s up with her. Just want us to be careful.”
“Oh, come on, man.” A smirk crossed his face as he gave my shoulder a brotherly slap. “I’m just fucking with you. I know you’re smarter than that.”
He was right. I was smarter than that. It was time for me to get my head fucking sorted before I ended up doing something I’d regret.
The thought had me thinking about Lisa’s offer from the night before.
I wanted to believe that some quality time with her might put an end to the nagging pull I’d felt towards Delilah, but I knew that wasn’t the case.
Nothing was going to get that woman out of my fucking head.
When Shotgun started down the hall, I shouted, “I’ve got some shit to take care of.
I’ll be down in a bit to check your progress with Danny. ”
“See ya then.”
As soon as he was out of sight, I went down to the kitchen.
After I grabbed a cup of coffee and some biscuits, I headed to the room where we were holding Delilah.
Once I’d unlocked the door, I walked in without saying a word and placed everything on the desk.
She was still sitting on the bed and Animal Kingdom was back on the TV, but her eyes were trained solely on me as I turned and started back out the door.
“That’s it? You’re just gonna leave without saying anything? ”
“Nothing else to say.”
“Seriously? I’ve been locked up in this room for hours on end, and you still aren’t even going to tell me what the hell is going on?”
I turned to look at her, and the second her blue eyes locked on mine, I knew I’d made a mistake.
She looked so fucking beautiful with her long red hair flowing down around her delicate shoulders, and just like that, she had me thinking things I had no business thinking.
Fuck. I needed to get the hell out of there.
“I don’t have time for this shit, Delilah. ”
I stepped out into the hall, quickly closing the door behind me and locking it. Just before I turned to leave, I heard her bang on the door and shout, “Hawk. Hawk! You can’t leave me in here like this!”
My chest tightened at the sound of her cries, but after meeting with the brothers, I knew she was safer in that room than she was anywhere else.