Chapter 7
CHAPTER
SEVEN
WES
On a break from my paint detailing job at Eagle Wings, I charged into the One-Eyed Jacks clubhouse next door. This had been my second home since the day I was born, and now I worked here part-time as well as at Trash Ink.
“Hey, Wes, what’s up?” asked Jordy, a new prospect, a kid I’d known from elementary school.
“All good, man. You seen Butler?”
“He’s in with the Prez.” He gestured toward Kicker’s office.
As if on cue, Butler, the VP, stepped out of the President’s office, closing the door behind him. His face broke into a smile at the sight of me. “Hey.”
“Hey B, I wanted to ask you something if you’ve got a moment?” I walked alongside him back into the central lounge area.
“Sure—have a seat in my office.” Chuckling, he went behind the bar and poured himself a club soda. “What’s up?”
I sat on a stool. “I saw Lindy, Pick’s daughter, in town today. She’s working at Lenore’s Lace. She was real cagey about why she’s here in Meager, and I got the impression something’s going down with the Flames, but she wouldn’t tell me. I saw Dawes hovering too. What’s going on?”
“Wes—”
“I know. I’m not a member of the club, I’m not this, I’m not that, but Lindy’s in trouble, and I want to know what’s going on.”
His brow furrowed deeply. “And once you know, you plan on doing something about it?”
“So something is going on. If Lindy and Pick are in trouble, I’m not going to sit back and do nothing to help. They saved our lives.”
“They sure did.” Rounding the bar he sat down on the stool next to me. “There’s nothing you can do except be a friend to Lindy while she’s here.”
“If she’s living with Lenore and Finger, she must need protecting. Where are her parents? This is me you’re talking to, B. I need to know.”
“Wes, I cannot have you running off, doing shit?—”
“I’m not that kid anymore. I got it then and I get it now. I’m worried about her. Like you said, I want to be a friend.”
Eyeing me, Butler crunched on the ice in his glass. “Uh-huh.”
“Give me the basics.”
“Pick is missing. He was on a run from Nebraska through South Dakota to Wyoming and has not been heard from since he left South Dakota for Wyoming.”
“Missing or taken?”
“Not sure yet.”
“A rival club?”
“Wes.”
“So she’s here under Finger’s protection? But playing it ‘normal.’”
“As she’s here in our territory, we’re watching over her too.”
“What about her mom? Why wouldn’t Lindy be in lockdown at their club? Shouldn’t she?—”
“We going to sit here and question Finger’s judgment? She’s working at Lenore’s Lace with Lenore and living at their house under their protection.”
“You think whoever it is would try to get to her?”
“I would put nothing past these motherfuckers.”
“So you know who it is?”
“We don’t know anything yet. But if he got taken…” Holding my gaze, his eyes shuttered as he drank.
“You think someone’s sending a message or they’re out for Flames blood?”
Heaving a rough sigh, Butler put his empty glass on the bar top. “So you saw Lindy? How’d that go?”
“Saw her earlier today at Lenore’s store. I was surprised to see her.”
“How did she take seeing you?”
“Not thrilled, but I’m going to work on that.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Wes, now may not be a good time.”
“Why not? Like you said, she needs a friend.”
“A friend, yeah.”
“She comes to Meager under these shitty circumstances, doesn’t know anyone, but she knows you and me. Her whole world has crashed around her overnight. I want to be supportive.”
“Supportive is good. But tread lightly.”
“Don’t worry, she already let me have it.”
He let out a short laugh. “Terrific.”
“Yeah, it was real fun.”
“One step at a time. It’s been years, and you’ve both done a lot of growing up. Don’t expect her to be that same girl you twirled around your fingers years ago. You got me?”
“She’s not the same girl, and I don’t want to twirl her around my fingers.”
“Fresh start. The two of you can get to know each other all over again with no assumptions based in the dark past.”
“You might have a hard time convincing her of that.”
“Patience.” He tilted his head. “And no expectations either, you got that?”
My hands raised in surrender. “No expectations here. Absolutely none.”
“Mmhm.” Swirling the last of the ice in his glass, he eyed me.
I never lied to Butler. But just now?
I lied.