Chapter 20
TWENTY
KILLIAN
“You really couldn’t have handled that without me?” I asked, not looking over at my VP.
Dealing with the members who wanted to fight the Death Raiders took all morning. It was time I didn’t have an argument I shouldn’t have to sort.
The gravel crunched under Giles’s feet as he followed me. Before long, we were in the club, heading in through the church doors.
“Sorry Kil, they were insistent.”
I spun around, anger piercing my tone. “Then fucking put them in their place, Giles. That is your job as vice president. They will listen to you, or you will make them listen to you. You’ve been asking me to handle the Laura shit for weeks and I finally do it, and you fucking interrupt me.”
Giles paled, a wince working into his features. “Sorry…”
A strange feeling twisted around in my gut—something like exhaustion. The club was all I cared about my whole life, and now all I wanted was my vice president to be capable of dealing with shit so I could fuck my…
Old lady…never had one of those before, it was the only term I’d ever give to any relationship I would ever have, and yet the term didn’t feel significant enough to describe what I felt for Laura.
I could feel her deeper than that.
But walking around calling her my soulmate might be a little too much.
“So, what’s the plan with paying Silas a visit?” Giles asked, pulling me from my thoughts.
I let out a sigh and grabbed my phone. Wes had texted he was on his way.
“We wait for Wes to get here; he’ll be going with me.”
Giles left his features neutral, but I could tell he was pissed. “I want you here, to make sure things go okay. You need to establish a presence here. Let people ask you what to do, let them know you’re in charge. Besides, I have an idea and I’ll need your help to pull it off.”
He nodded, digging his thumbnail into the wood of the table.
A moment later, the church doors opened, and Callie and Wes walked in.
Callie looked around as if she were looking for Laura, her brows dipped when she didn’t see her.
“So nice of you two to join us. Callie, did your husband tell you that your best friend was held at gunpoint last night?”
Callie’s face flung sideways, her glare snagging on her husband.
“What?!”
Wes didn’t so much as flinch. He just stared at me, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Wes?”
“I didn’t fucking do it, Silas did,” he argued, and fuck that was the wrong thing to say.
She stepped into his line of sight. “But you didn’t tell me!”
“We were on a trip, River. Would have stressed you out.” He was calling her by her nickname now, which meant he was quickly trying to correct his fuck up.
“A trip where?”
Callie finally turned and let out a sigh. “I’m still following some leads on that blogger activist stuff. Especially after the incident the other day. I just wanted to look into something, but it was a dead end.”
“You need to run that shit by me, Cal,” I said, flicking my gaze to her and then to Wes.
He nodded, dipping his head. Callie only glared at me. “You know my response to that, Kil. Fuck the club, and fuck you if that’s how you’re going to treat me.” She flipped me her middle finger, then moved around the table. “Now, I am going to go find Laura and check on my friend.”
She got as far as the doors when I called out, “Silas made a deal with you, right?”
Wes had told me that was one reason he was off-limits to us, because while Wes was unconscious after Silas helped save his life, he made a deal with her to gain protection.
She slowly spun around; her eyes narrowed. “Yes.”
“He broke it by taking Laura. Wes and I are going to him to straighten shit out. Wanted you to know.”
She lifted her chin and then let her hands fall. “Our agreement was that Natty would stay safe, but I had no idea I had to clarify that my best friend would also be on that list of keeping safe.”
“Wait, you knew about Natty?” I leaned in, a little curious now.
She pursed her lips. “I mean I assumed. She acted too weird when we confronted her all those months ago. He was acting weird too. I just sort of connected the dots. But was it confirmed?”
I nodded. “Last night he threatened Laura because we allowed Natty to talk to Jameson King. Said we put her in harm’s way.”
“Fuck.” Wes groaned, hanging his head.
He understood just how bad this was. Silas had already threatened us once, regarding some mysterious person associated with the club. We had no idea then who he was talking about, but now there was no question.
“Also, just a head’s up. We may be taking in a pregnant Chaos Kings’ property patch. She’s been fucked over by the VP in the club, and the club is trying to force King to remove her.”
Callie gasped. “While knocked up with the VP’s baby?”
I nodded.
“King said she’s been around since she was a teenager, they all knew her.
But the VP wants nothing to do with her or becoming a dad.
Club is the only home she’s ever known. He doesn’t mind setting her up somewhere else, but he’s worried about her safety.
Feels like only another club would actually keep her safe from the Chaos Kings. ”
“We’ll take her!” Callie offered, as though the decision was up to her.
“I said as much, not sure where we’re going to put her, but we’ll figure it out.”
Callie put her hand on her stomach. “So that’s why Natty had to talk to Jameson…”
“He wanted to make sure it was safe here,” Wes finished for her, looking up and sharing a meaningful look with his wife.
“Do what you have to do with Silas, just be careful, and can I talk to Natty and see if she’ll share any more details with me about him? Because if he’s secretly important to her then I don’t want to kill him or anything.”
I stared at the ground for a moment, thinking over why Natty would cover for him. I caught how she looked at him last night, why not just tell us he was a bad guy when we asked about him three months ago?
Didn’t make any sense.
“Yeah, go ahead and see what you can find out. Take Laura with you, she’s friends with her, and I know Natty has to feel something about Silas taking Laura and holding her hostage.”
“Got it.” Callie waved us off and left through the church doors.
Wes stared at me. I stared back. We’d had a rocky few weeks as I transitioned into this role. Well longer, because it hurt like hell that Simon Stone had chosen him as President, instead of me. But it wasn’t his fault, and I knew I had to stop holding him accountable for it.
“Ready?”
Wes nodded, then pulled on his leather jacket with his patches and colors indicating he was still an active member of the Stone Riders MC.
Made me proud as hell to see his name stitched into that leather, knowing his past and how unlikely it was for him that he’d ever join in the first place.
Now he was here, with the club, and had the only woman he ever wanted, with a baby on the way. I was happy for him.
So happy it finally helped me put a few things into perspective.
“Let’s ride, brother.” I slapped his back and we exited the club.
“Do you have the cameras in place?” I asked as Wes drove the old truck down the dirt road. This truck had no plates, and it was one we liked to use when we were doing something we didn’t want traced back to us.
Wes nodded. “Callie has no idea though so if it comes back on us, you’re taking the blame.”
“Noted,” I mused, watching the landscape change.
Pyle had less river and more fields, way less foliage, and more power plants.
We passed Strings, and I inwardly cringed.
Their strip club was shitty and needed a new paint job.
I’d honestly considered starting one in Rose Ridge, especially for the girls who were attached to our club, so they weren’t in Raider territory, but we were already in enough hot water as it was with the local businesses and I didn’t need a reason for the government to come snooping.
“I heard Laura’s a bit of a hero…at least to the Sweetbutts.”
I glanced over at my best friend, unsure of how much to share. I was still upset he hadn’t come back in time, but considering his wife’s rig was nearly caught on fire, I decided to give him a pass.
“Apparently she went toe to toe with The Roman on behalf of them.”
Wes stared straight ahead, then started laughing.
“You told her how you feel?”
I smiled, shaking my head. “I told her enough.”
“I want to know how that went.” Wes was still laughing as he turned down another dirt road, which would lead us to the farm.
“She knows to be in my bed every night.”
My best friend tossed his head back, laughing loudly. “Well, good for you man, so you’re putting your patch on her?”
“Something like that.” My gaze returned to the window, needing to steer this conversation somewhere else. The idea still felt like I was placing a spotlight on her, a dinner bell for anyone who wanted to hurt her.
I needed to tell Wes who Laura was.
The longer I kept it to myself the more dangerous the situation was becoming. I would after this, so we could stay focused.
We’d finally passed the city and were approaching a few farms. White fences stretched along the yellow weeds; the deep navy sky above made the farms look practically dead.
Sasha and Simon’s came up as we curved the road, their small cottage-style house, adjacent to a big red barn, gave the appearance that a happy couple lived here.
Not a dying man and the woman he stole from a rival club.
Parking off the shoulder of the driveway, we exited quietly.
Wes took his phone out and shot a text to Callie, and I did the same with Giles.
Once he got a response back, he waved us forward.
Callie was probably going to kill us both for doing this, but if Wes wasn’t worried then I wasn’t going to either.