Chapter 30 #2
“At least they’ll be easier to go after than Fremont,” Toxic pointed out. “We don’t have to worry about law enforcement when we fight them.”
“If you can get concrete proof that Fremont is taking bribes to excuse cases, we won’t have to worry about law enforcement with him either,” Static commented. “We’d be able to nail him and send him to prison.”
“That’s not going to be easy,” Cade responded. “Rat will do his best, but Fremont is crafty.”
“And paranoid,” Murphey added. “He’s not going to go down that easily.”
“Was worth a shot,” Static replied with a sigh.
“So, we’re going after the mafia first?” Hell asked.
“That’s right. We’re going to reinforce the lesson that Dani gave them,” Lock answered.
A grim smile spread over his face. “Show them what happens when you fuck with ours. It also has the added benefit of taking out Fremont’s laundering service.
If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to goad him into making a mistake. ”
The rest of church was spent going over potential options for how to first confront the Italians. Nothing was set in stone, but rather than game plan it all day Lock released us to go be with our families.
“How long are you staying in town?” I asked Cade as we all walked out to the front part of the clubhouse.
“A few days, then we’ll have to get back to our case.”
I watched as Seek came down the stairs and whispered something to Hush. His brows rose at whatever she said and they sat across the room having what looked like an intense conversation.
Everyone was sitting around the bar, having drinks despite the early hour, and our families were starting to come downstairs as well. Once everyone was here Seek stood up, with some help from Hush, from the seat she’d taken.
“Excuse me!” she called out. Everyone quieted down.
“After what happened yesterday…” She shot Lock a sheepish look.
“I thought long and hard about it, and I don’t really want to wait until after the baby is born to get married.
Not anymore.” There was stunned silence.
“If it won’t mess with any club plans, we’d like to have the wedding here…
this coming weekend. If that’s alright?” She was asking Lockout.
A smile broke out on Lock’s face and he nodded. “I think that’s a great idea. Nothing is going to be happening for a while. There’s plenty of time to have a party.”
Hush grinned and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “We were hopin’ some of your families would want to come out, Cade. Though we understand if they can’t on such short notice.”
“I’ll send out the invite,” Cade replied. “I’m sure most of the guys and their old ladies will make it.”
Someone let out a whoop and that was the cue for the women to swarm Seek. They were all chattering happily about plans. Hush disentangled himself from his old lady and came over to us.
I passed him a bottle of beer from behind the bar. “Congratulations, Brother.”
“Thanks.” He tipped the bottle to take a swallow.
“You’re going to get an earful from Seek’s mom,” Lock told him with an evil grin.
Hush groaned. “That’s for damn sure. That’s alright. I know how to handle Melinda.”
We’d met Seek’s mom a few times. She was a nice enough lady, but was extremely protective of her girls.
“Priest, we were hopin’ you’d do the ceremony?” Hush asked.
He grinned and slapped Hush on the back. “Hell yeah, I will. It’s an honor, Brother.”
“You going to be able to pull everything together in time?” I asked.
Hush laughed. “Seek already knows everythin’ she wants. I’m sure between her, the other women, and her mom and sister, it won’t be a problem.”
We spent the day hanging out with Cade, Murphey, and our families and I had to admit it went a long way toward loosening most of us up after the close call from the day before. I was outside, watching the kids chasing each other around on the grass when Lock came up to me.
“How’s it going?”
I side eyed him, wondering if he was asking how I was doing after yesterday, or in general. Before I could answer, he elaborated.
“You seem to be more relaxed around Dani now.”
Shaking my head, I looked over at him. “How the hell do you do that?”
“I know you well.”
“The others know me well and none of them picked up on the fact that there was a shift between me and her.”
“Not yet, but they will.”
I raked a hand through my hair. “Everything’s good.”
“Just good?”
“Fuck, Lock. What do you want me to tell you?”
“The truth, Smoke.”
“I’ve never been happier.” The words tasted like ash, not because I wasn’t thrilled, but admitting them wasn’t easy.
“I can tell.” He grinned at me. “I’m fucking happy for you. You deserve someone as good as her.”
“Figured you were pissed at her. At all of them.”
He sighed and looked out over the desert. The sun was beginning to set and the property lights hadn’t come on yet. Tucson was giving a show tonight with the sunset, lighting the sky with orange, pink, and purple. They battled with the blue in the dying light of the sun. “I was pissed yesterday.”
“We explained to them-”
“I know. It’s not even that. My anger was just covering up fear.
” His features settled into a grim look.
“I have no delusions about what would happen to you guys, to this club, if you lost your families. Fuck. I’d feel so responsible I’d be right there with you.
Your women are incredible. Losing them would destroy us all. ”
He paused for a moment. “I wanted to confront Fremont on our terms. If he’s in bed with the mafia, well, we’re going to have to face them anyway. It’s happening fast. It’s not the girls’ fault, not entirely. At least now we won’t be blindsided by Fremont’s alliances.”
Those words, coming from him, really made it hit home that Lockout didn’t just care about us. He loved the women we loved as well. Looking over at where Cade and Murphey were sitting talking with Hush, Seek, and Kit, I mused out loud, “You think Cade had it right?”
“By going legit?”
“Yeah.”
“Fuck yeah, I do. That’s why I took this club legit as soon as I took over as president.”
“We still get into a lot of shit,” I pointed out.
“We do. And when the time is right, maybe we’ll scale back.”
I frowned. Even though I’d brought it up, I wasn’t sure that was the route for us. “That would leave the city undefended.”
“A lot of people count on us,” he said in agreement.
They did. So many of the citizens ended up finding out that we did what we could to keep the trash out of this city. There were always more scumbags moving in. It was a problem. There was no way to keep it clean.
“It’s a choice we would make as a group,” Lock told me. “When the time comes.”
“If it comes to that.”
“If it comes to that,” he echoed again in agreement.
We’d do whatever was necessary to keep our families safe. I just couldn’t imagine doing anything different than we were right now.