Chapter Five
Steel
“You got a minute?”
I shove my chair back from the desk, tempering my annoyance because Edge doesn’t bug me when I’m locked away in my office, trying to figure club business out.
By business, I mean the legal stuff we do, and the stuff that ain’t so on the right side of the law.
Judging by the look on his face, though, like he just got ass-fucked by a lemon, and it puckered his entire body up, not just his face, he has something serious he needs to talk about.
Clearly, I don’t have a damn minute—since I’m drowning in goddamn bills and paperwork.
Never thought I would be sitting at a desk pushing papers like an office clerk.
I was raised rough, barely graduated high school because I didn’t give a shit that I was there, and my parents couldn’t care less.
Never went to college. Worked hard my whole life doing mechanical jobs here and there because that was about the only thing I was good at. Loved bikes. Always did. Always will.
Running into Edge trying to jack my bike was just a stroke of luck.
Right place, wrong time for him, but it turned into a hell of a lot more than that.
Over a burger and fries that I paid for so that the asshat could explain to me why he was trying to steal my damn bike, Edge told me his life story.
Couldn’t get work after he’d done time, so thought he might as well go on a good run before he got sent back to where he wouldn’t have to worry about it.
Turned out, he loved bikes too.
A match made in fucking heaven, or some corny shit like that.
Edge shuts the office door and turns the lock in place.
I sit up a little straighter, the shitty accounting forgotten because whatever he is going to say, I am not going to like hearing it.
God, I hate spreadsheets and trying to keep books and all that.
If I trusted anyone, I would hire them to do it for me, but I haven’t yet met someone who could keep their mouth shut, and none of my brothers happen to be good with numbers.
“Donovan Harris just bought the land that Snake and his old lady and their three kids were living on. They were just renting the house, and this morning, the landlord called to tell them that they have to be packed up and out by the morning. The house was never put on the market, so obviously, our friend, Donny, got to them first just because he knows Snake’s one of us. ”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah. That’s about right.”
“You got a place where they can crash for a few days until we find them something permanent?”
Edge frowns, and I already know the answer.
“It’s real short notice. Some people here don’t like to rent to members of Steel Riders.
Not because they think we’ll fuck shit up for them, because I’m sure they know that we’re not about that by now and cash is cash, but because someone else has instructed them not to. ”
“Harris.”
“Of course. Or someone from his office.”
This time I run a hand through my hair, something I never do. I catch myself, seeing as that is Edge’s tell, and lower it to scrape down over the stubble I still haven’t shaved off.
“Fuck it all to hell. This is gonna keep happening. Snake’s not the first. Before him, it was Pops, and before that, Titan. They even got to Amanda, and she ain’t an old lady, technically.”
I try not to let the amount of stress ripping through my head crack my brain, but it has been a tough week. Fuck, it hasn’t even been a week. It’s only Thursday. Not even five full days since I last saw Leah, but I’ve been in a hell of my own making.
She’s getting under my skin. Big fucking time. I want to say that she wasn’t there already, but that would be a damn lie, and I’ve never been very good at lying to myself.
If there’s a hell, I am sure as shit going to taste the flames for the thoughts I’ve had about her these past few nights.
Or more like the past few years. I have kept my palm busy, but it’s done absolutely fuck all to take the edge off wanting Leah.
The sooner she learns she’s better off far away from me, the better.
“Right. Well, I can find Snake and his family a temporary place. I’ll find someone that Harris hasn’t got to yet, and I’ll find them a place to live for good after.
We have the money to buy them something, ‘round the edge of town maybe, where shit is cheaper and Snake ain’t fussy, but we’re gonna have to get this figured out. For all the brothers.”
I nod because it is all I can do. “Yeah. This club is about family, and that’s our vow. To look after each other.”
“So…” Edge leans forward, pressing me in that silent way he has for answers I don’t have. “How are we gonna fix this? Harris ain’t small time, and we don’t have a man on the inside like we were talking about before.”
I shrug because fuck if I know.
Edge stares at me without blinking. He stares so long that the hair at the back of my neck prickles with unease because when he wants to be, good looks or not, Edge can be creepy as all hell.
“What?” I lean forward and rest my elbows on the desk and stare Edge down.
“You don’t have to do your best to look pissed off. You’ve been in a shitty mood all week. As in someone pissed in your cereal, except you don’t eat cereal, so I’ll go with whiskey.”
“You’re like a nagging wife, you know that? Jesus fuck—when I made you my VP, and we started this damn thing together, I didn’t think I’d actually see the day.”
Edge grins, and of course it’s that horrible shit-eating grin that he has perfected over the years. ”I didn’t know you thought of me that way, darlin’.” He draws out the word so that it sounds more old fashioned—dawhlllling. “Say the word, and I’ll make it legit.”
“Why I didn’t put a fucking bullet between your eyes the second I saw you trying to jack my bike, I’ll never know.”
Edge bats his eyelashes at me. “That’s sweet, darlin’. Real sweet.”
“Do me a favor and fuck the fuck off so I can get back to what I’m supposed to be doing. Gimme a day to think about the problem, and I’ll come up with something. We’ll call church and make it legit.”
Edge still doesn’t leave, and I nearly give in to the impulse to plant my fist in the center of his smug mug. I don’t have to ask if there is a reason he’s still there. I know he’s going to fill me in whether I like it or not. I am leaning heavily on the side of not.
“That girl… Harris’ daughter. What’s the real story with you? I know you don’t wanna tell me, but if she’s not spying for her father, did you ever stop to think that we could use her?”
I glare at him.
“Fuck, I don’t mean use her. I mean, not like that, but maybe convince her to work for the club? If she’s rebelling against her father, she might warm up to the idea.”
I knew he was going to play his ace. I just hate that it’s Leah.
“No. I’m not getting her involved. You think her dad is an asshole? I can’t imagine what he’d do to her if he found out that she’d betrayed him like that.”
“What if he thought she was spying for us? She could approach him. Sell him a story about wanting to help out the family business. You know, make it up for, uh, well, that accident. Some shit like that. She seems like a smart girl. I’m sure she could figure it out.”
“No.”
“She’s—”
“I said fucking no. Now fuck off out of here before I make good on my promise to put you in the ground.”
Edge’s brows shoot up. “Jesus. We’ve got rules about doing a brother in.”
“In this case, I’ll make an exception.”
Edge stands and nearly makes it to the door.
Almost. So fucking close. He turns and shoots me a look that says he knows he is going to eventually win, especially when he puts it to a vote with the rest of the club, which I already know he’s not above doing because if it means helping us out and giving us an edge over a man who wants to wipe us from the face of the earth just because he can, I’m obligated, as the club’s Prez, to do the right thing.
Leah isn’t my old lady. She’s not anything as far as Edge is concerned, and while no member of this club is allowed to harm a woman, putting her on our payroll if she’s somehow game for it, isn’t off limits.
I lean back in my chair and fold my hands behind my head. I let out a big sigh that echoes through the office. I thought I was doing the right thing, keeping her at a distance, but now I realize just how well and truly fucked I am.