Chapter Forty-Two
Iknew Jamie really didn’t want me to go to meet with the Don, but she just didn’t get how things worked in the ‘famiglia’. It was about showing strength, and courage, and risking death. I didn’t want to die, I mean, people rarely do, but I needed to settle things, or we’d be forever on the run.
Every moment that we were in the limbo pattern we’d been in for two days, we were risking others.
I didn’t want any members of Phoenix MC to pay for my fuckups, any more than I wanted Jamie to suffer.
Now the fact that I never got off last night meant she was due some fucking payback, but I’d prefer us both to be alive for that.
I’m a kinky fucker at times, but there was a line, right?
“I don’t like this,” she whispered to me, as we sat in a van, just down the road from some classless fucking strip club.
“I know, little pain, you’re like a stuck record.” Anyone else would probably be hurt by a response like that, but we mostly lived to piss each other off, so I didn’t see any reason to stop that now.
“The second you try to get anywhere near him, someone will put a bullet in your damn head.”
The fact that we had ended up in another town over an hour away for this, was just part of the problem. We were closer to the Wiltshire club compound, than our own, but apparently this club was a safe neutral zone, and the Don was meeting with a rival family.
See, I used to be in the loop on some of this shit, and now I had no idea who they were meeting, or why this armpit was the place of choice.
“Can you two shut it, so I can hear the updates,” Ice hissed at me.
We were sitting in the back of a van we’d tricked out like a fucking stalkermobile, and trust me, if I survived, I was replicating this for Micro’s chapter.
Ha, listen to me making plans like I’m expecting survival AND getting to stay with the club.
Either one was unlikely, but getting both was fucking impossible.
“This must be the guy who booked out our club, bruv. Looks like some kind of mafia prick to me.”
“Jesus fuck, mafia guys? That’s just what we need. Why’d we let them use our fucking place?”
We both ignored the annoying London bastards, who seemed to be bitching and moaning, like they expected someone to give a crap about their petty problems.
“Who are these guys?” Jamie asked, leaning closer to look at the monitor, which showed two bearded bastards who looked like twins.
“They’re the big power in this region, so we figured a place of theirs would have the adequate security, especially since they’re getting something out of it too.”
“What they should be getting out of it is a fucking décor update. What is this place? It looks like the fucking seventies want it back.”
“The Don’s inside,” someone rattled in my ear. For the record, I had an earpiece, but under no circumstances was I allowed to speak up on the channel, because, oh yeah, I was persona non grata.
“Who’s he meeting?”
Ice groaned, and turned to glare at me, flipping a middle finger at me.
“I swear you used to understand what shut the fuck up meant.”
“Come on, man. The Don’s safety is all of our concern. What if you all get taken down, and I’m his last best hope?”
He laughed, picking up a crumpled paper cup and bouncing it off my forehead.
“Yeah, if that happens, everyone’s fucking doomed.”
“I can handle myself.”
He watched as I dug out my trusty gold Desert Eagle, and dropped his head back, making a teenage-esque groan.
“Tell me you’re not gonna fondle that thing in front of me again. I’m still in therapy from last time.”
“Grease! You brought a gun?”
Ha! So cute that my lady thought I wasn’t gonna be packing for this one.
“Yeah, baby, I brought a gun. You gonna arrest me?”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“Zip it, for fuck’s sake!” We continued glaring and yet grinning at each other.
“Amato just went in.”
Amato. Fuck. I stood up instantly, checking my gun, before tucking it in the back of my cargo pants.
“What are you doing, dipshit?”
“He’s meeting Amato? Don Amato? Is he out of his fucking mind? You do realise how dangerous this is, right?”
Ice twirled his finger by his temple, leaning closer to Jamie.
“You sure you want this crazy fucker? There are so many better options in the club.”
I shoved him away from her. “First off, she couldn’t do fucking better than me. I’m it. I’m the fucking shit, and second of all, get that close to her again, and I’ll let a part of you masturbate my gun. Got it?”
Ice looked completely unconcerned by my comments, and turned back to stare at the screens in front of him.
“This club is owned by these two loan shark fuckers, and they’ve got their own men stationed inside the club, but the majority of the protection is from the Don’s people, and us.”
“Where are Amato’s people? He’ll have them somewhere. We should check out elevated positions for snipers and shit.”
“Snipers?” I waved my little pain off, because of course this was all new for her. I didn’t have time to explain it all, so she’d just have to keep up.
“Of course we checked… Jesus, man, do you think we never do covert shit? It’s all covered, and the club owners having their own backup is an additional layer we don’t normally have.”
“And how do we know they’re not secretly backing Amato?”
Ice pointed at the two fuckers, who were now sitting in a corner of their shitty pole club, with an unfortunate brunette woman squished between them.
“Because, first off, when we approached them, we were hit with a response of ‘nobody comes into our town without us knowing’, and various other platitudes like that, and secondly, we never told them who was coming. Not our Don or the other. Oh, and because I’ve thoroughly vetted them, even had a nice conflab with their version of me, who’s a really snarky bastard, by the way. ”
“Fancy that,” I murmured, turning to watch out through the curtain to check the street at the front of the van. “We’re too far away. If there’s trouble, we won’t get there in time.”
“Grease, you’re forgetting why you’re here. You’re here to try and make amends with the Don, not protect him.”
I shrugged, tucking Jamie under my arm, her warm presence up against me offering some kind of comfort before the shit inevitably hit the fan.
“It’s a mafia thing, babe. We all exist to protect our Don, our boss, and even if he wants me dead, I still don’t wish that on him.”
“He’s lucky, because you could turn on him, and-”
“Don’t, babe. I’m the betrayer here, remember? He might be a stuffy bastard, but I’d never have become anything without him.”
“Like a prisoner?”
Jamie
It was like he was romanticising the mafia Don who’d pretty much owned him for his entire life, raising him from childhood, to be a soldier for him.
It was like he was forgetting what we’d already been through, because the monster would never accept me as Grease’s woman.
Or Tesio as Grease, which was the original issue.
All he wanted was to live the way he loved, why did it have to be such a big deal, right?
“I should be in there,” Grease murmured, still watching through the curtain.
The bit that had me confused was the fact that this was happening in the middle of the day, with bright sun illuminating everything around us.
I’d say it’d draw police interest, but since there were several police cars at the end of the street, clearly colluding with these criminals, I guess that point was moot.
“Jesus fuck,” Grease rubbed his eyes, “did it have to be so fucking bright out there?”
“I still don’t get why this is being done ‘under cover of daylight’. It makes no sense.”
Grease jerked a thumb at Ice, “he’ll explain.”
Ice cursed, turning in his seat to look at me. “Because the two pricks who own the club say they have a big event tonight, and they’re not cancelling it for anyone. Also, it’s easier to have eyes on intruders and snipers when you’ve got so much light. Sneak attacks are easier in the dark, right?”
It was so weird to me. In movies, this stuff always happened in the dead of night, and actually, I could see their point. We could literally see every person out there.
“What about all the CCTV out there? Couldn’t that be monitored by bad guys?”
Ice snorted, turning to exchange an amused glance with Grease.
“It’s like she doesn’t think we know what we’re doing. Between the two of us, and this Nige prick, we’ve got it all under control. Nobody’s getting into these feeds, and definitely not without us realising.”
The frustrating part was that, if these people were the good guys, working with the cops, we’d be able to stamp out so much more crime, but…
I realised that I didn’t necessarily see them as bad guys.
The Don, sure, a mafia boss was definitely not a good guy, and these weird guys who own the club?
Definitely not good guys. But the bikers?
The more time I spent around them, the more I realised that they were decent men with good hearts, and sure, maybe they got caught up in stuff that wasn’t exactly lawful, but they weren’t bad people.
Sure… that’s exactly how good girls turn bad, right?
“Wish I could hear what they’re discussing,” Grease murmured, still watching like a hawk, as he monitored the meet from his hidden position.
“Not for our ears, man. He was very clear on that. Even his own people aren’t getting to hear it.
Look though, he’s got plenty of backup. He’s got Luca, and some dick called Enzo in there with him, just by the doors, and he’s got others outside.
Even Tori’s in there with him, and we know she’s good with a gun now too.
” I didn’t know who Tori was, or how she’d proved herself with a gun, but there was probably only one way that’d happened, right?
I leaned closer to Grease, resting a hand on his back, on the leather of the cut he wore with such pride.
“Who’s Tori?”
“Aw she’s getting jealous, mate.”
“Fuck off, Ice. She’s Ryder’s old lady, little pain. You don’t need to worry about me hitting that.”
“You should worry about me hitting something of yours in a minute.”
We both ignored Ice’s laughter behind us, as Grease leaned closer to me.
“Tori’s the Don’s daughter too, okay? That’s why she’s there right now. Not because of the club, but to back her dad. Amato’s a fucker, and I don’t know why the Don’s even risking being in the same place as him, but I don’t like it.”
I rubbed his back in soothing circles, although I had no idea if he could even feel it through the thick leather of the cut.
“And what did she do to prove herself with a gun?” I couldn’t help asking, while he was being so forthcoming.
“Uh oh,” Ice murmured behind us, but we continued to ignore the snarky bastard.
“Uh… you remember how crazy Halloween was? The patchover party?”
No I didn’t. That was after we’d had one delicious encounter together, but I remembered there had been some insane party that night, because we were sent there when there was smoke visible from the nearest housing estate, and they were worried someone had set fire to the fields out there.
He’d refused to tell me anything back then.
“No.”
Grease chuckled, sliding his fingers into my hair, and stroking them lightly through it, as he spoke. It was soothing, calming a little of my agitation, even though his words were anything but calming.
“A few former members of the club took offence to it being patched over, and drugged the booze. Jesus, it was fucking insane. There were fights, and dubious tattooing, guns, fire, the whole shebang.” I knew it! I knew there was more to that night than he’d led me to believe!
“You bastard!”