25. Player
Chapter twenty-five
Player
Gage slumps in the chair at the head of the table. Exhaustion is written on his face. “So, tell me what you know about this guy?”
Myself, Drae, Cruz, and our enforcer, Slaughter, are the only members in the room for this discussion.
“He’s a long-haul trucker,” I say. “He’s coming back from the West Coast with a load right now. He’s currently in Cincinnati.” I pull the photo up. “This is the trailer he’s hauling. I need to get this out to every chapter between here and Ohio. We’ve gotta get eyes on this thing. I want him dead.”
My brothers all lean forward to study the photo.
“He looks like that dude who played in Gladiator,” Cruz says. “Got the muscles, too. No wonder she’s terrified of him.”
Gage strokes his jaw. “How is she?”
“He burned the fucking skin off her arm. She’ll carry that scar forever. I can’t even imagine the pain she’s been through. I want to string him up and pull his guts out.”
“If a chapter gets eyes on him, you want ‘em to take care of him for you? Or do you want to handle it?” my father asks.
“I want to do it myself, but my first priority is protecting Taylor. That means he gets nowhere near her again. I want him out of the picture. I don’t want her looking over her shoulder for the rest of her life.
I want her to know he’s gone and never coming back.
How that happens is not as important as the end result.
Sure, I’d love to be the one who twists the knife in his gut, but that’s selfish. It just fucking needs to happen.”
“Well, let’s get the word out and play it by ear if they get eyes on him. We’ll see what our options are at that point.” Gage looks at Slaughter. “Get that photo out to all the chapters.”
“Done,” Slaughter replies.
“All right. I’m exhausted. Keep me posted.” With that, we adjourn, and Gage, Cruz, and Slaughter walk out of the room. Drae hangs back with me.
“Taylor okay?”
“No, but she will be.” I stand and meet his eyes. “I love her, brother.”
He grins. “I think everyone in the room figured that out, VP.”
I lean my palms on the table, my head dropping. “I don’t want her hurt like this again.”
His hand lands on my shoulder. “What’s bothering you?”
I turn my head to catch his eyes. “What if I’m dragging her right back into a life that puts her in danger?”
“What happened to her with this asshole proves there’s danger in the world whether she’s with you or not. Way I see it, she’s safer with you than without you, VP.”
“I hope so, brother.” I straighten.
“I know so.” He throws an arm around me. “Let’s get a drink.”
I stop him, because I caught the way Cici responded when we pulled up. “You talk to Cici?”
“About what?” he replies, being cagey.
“About anything,” I snap.
“I’m too old for her, Player. She’s got a stupid schoolgirl crush. That’s all it is. In a month or two she’ll forget all about me and move on to some twenty-year-old. Don’t worry about it, VP.”
“Don’t fucking let me down, Drae.”
We have a drink, and I watch him and Cici like a hawk.
Gage is speaking with Cruz, then he leaves with my sister in tow, headed to the beach house.
Drae and I move outside to watch them pull out.