Chapter 28 #2
I swore and shook my head. Those two needed fucking bells around their necks. They almost always showed up unexpectedly and saw too damn much. “What did you mean by that?” I asked, addressing his first statement.
“Mean by what?” he asked, an innocent look filling his face.
Before I could clarify he went into Static’s room.
“The fuck?” I muttered to myself. Had they noticed the look on Hell’s face when he’d stared down at my sister?
Probably. Those two were born shit stirrers.
Their powers of observation were keen and they hadn’t been trying to deal with a fuck load of feelings over the last month and a half.
They’d probably noticed long before I had.
“Hey.” Kit distracted me by hugging me.
I squeezed her tight, giving Hell a suspicious, hard look as he squeezed by. I had to bite back my grin as he ducked his head and went into Static’s room. “You okay?” I asked her.
“Yeah, we’re all okay,” she said. “Static was a damn hero. So were Auron and Jecht. And Dani.”
I opened my mouth to demand answers when Rip stuck his head out the door. “Let’s go, you two.”
We walked inside and I went over and pulled Dani into my arms. I gave Hell another hard look that told him we needed to talk later. He just shrugged and gave me his usual grin.
“Who wants to start?” Lock asked.
“I will,” Dani said. “I think I’ll have the most complete story to tell.”
My jaw tightened as I listened to my pregnant old lady—I hadn’t made the title official, but that’s what she was—explaining about them seeing Carl at the center and the girls deciding to follow him.
Gritting my teeth, I tensed even more when she told us about the men dragging her into that room and talking about killing her.
She told us about the money the men were counting.
I shot Static a grateful look when she explained that he’d showed up and tried to talk their way out of the situation, then got pounded on, and almost killed, for his troubles.
“Then everyone came running in,” Dani said. She was tensing up right along with me, probably sensing my anger as she told the story.
“You went runnin’ into a room filled with bad guys and guns?” Hush growled, glaring down at Seek.
“Like I wasn’t going to try to help,” Seek snapped right back. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to because I got a damn cramp from running down that hallway. But Auron and Jecht at least helped.”
“They all saved my life,” Dani said, tone soft.
“And you saved ours,” Jenny told her. “Those guys would have caught us all if you hadn’t distracted them.”
“Any idea who they were?” Lockout asked. His tone was mild, but I could tell he was pissed. He was getting the information he needed, but once we all laid into our women, we were going to get yelled at by him.
“The man in charge was named Bruno and he had a scar down his cheek,” Dani answered. “They also referred to someone named Don.”
I looked around at my brothers and frowned. “Don who?” I didn’t like where this was going.
“I don’t know. They didn’t say… Oh wait. Amano or Amato. Something like that.”
Riptide swore and ran his hands through his hair. We all stilled as she said that name. Don wasn’t a first name, but a title. That didn’t bode well. Dani looked around in confusion. “You know him?”
In reply, Butcher and Toxic tossed the bags on the counter nearby. One was charred beyond recognition, but the other was filled with money that was only half burnt.
Lockout pulled out his cell and punched in a number.
“Hey, it’s me. Think you could do me a favor?
” he asked. “Can you check to see if there’s any connection between the Italian mafia here in Tucson and the District Attorney?
” He waited as the person on the other end of the line answered. “That’s right. Fremont. Thanks.”
I knew exactly who he was speaking to without having to ask, but the women had curiosity written all over their faces. “This isn’t fucking good,” I commented.
“If Amato and Fremont are working together this just took a worse turn than I thought,” Lockout replied.
He sighed. “Let’s confirm it before we jump to any conclusions.
Everyone, take care of your women. Butcher, get rid of that cash.
” When Butcher grinned, Lock glared at him.
“Put it somewhere we can get our hands on it later. Do not spend it.”
“Damn,” Toxic muttered, but they picked up both bags and left the room.
Lockout took his time looking around the room. “I expect each of you,” he said, speaking to us men, “to explain why something like what happened today is never going to happen again.”
Dani leaned back into me and I saw the guilt and shame on the rest of the women’s faces.
They knew they weren’t supposed to get involved in club business.
Just like I knew they couldn’t help themselves.
We were in love with caring, protective women who wanted to help.
The fact that I was in love with Dani wasn’t a surprise anymore.
I’d known it the minute I’d seen her pale face amongst the crowd, surrounded by emergency vehicles.
The fear I’d had of her leaving by choice had been wiped away by what could have happened to her.
The indecision of not wanting to get involved with a woman vanished.
She was mine. And nothing was going to take her from me.
“Let’s go,” I told her.
She nodded and smiled at me when I took her by the hand to lead her out of there.
Lock wasn’t trying to be a dick, but having our families in the line of fire was the last thing any of us wanted.
The fact that the women had followed after Carl had placed them in danger.
We needed to make them understand that if we lost them, there’d be no coming back from that.
Ricochet wasn’t the only one who’d lose the battle with himself if he lost his sunshine.
We’d all end up going down destructive paths that we wouldn’t return from.
Our club and our brothers were important to us; they were our tether to this life.
We kept each other grounded. Our women? They were our souls.
Without them none of us would continue to exist. Somewhere along the line Dani had become my world.
If I’d lost her today nothing would have kept me from going after the ones responsible and if I hadn’t died in the process, I’d have ended it once justice was found.
She was it for me. Now it was time to make sure she knew that. And that she could never do this to me again.