Chapter 3
THREE
SNIPER
She might not like me, but I certainly haven’t forgotten her.
My eyes narrow at the woman in front of me. I hear a couple of the men around me curse, one sharp intake of breath, and then a snort, but I don’t even glance at them. No, I just look down at the woman in front of me, who stares up at me with not an ounce of fear or remorse on her face. If anyone told me I would run into Athena Sutton today, or that she would have turned out to be a fucking stunner, I would have called them an idiot.
But here she is, and she’s definitely no longer a young woman still trying to find her place in the Army. Even back then, I knew she was going to be something, but there was a lot holding her back and it pissed me off. I know exactly what she’s referring to, and while a small prickle of guilt settles in my gut, I also know it was necessary or she wouldn’t be here now. I knew it a decade ago she was going to be something if she actually took the steps needed.
I give her a cool smile, one that has her eyes narrowing slightly, and I say, “Officer Sutton, still have that sharp tongue, I see. If I was still your commanding officer, I’d have your ass running for miles. Might help the stick up your ass loosen up a bit itself.”
Her lips pull into a sharp smile and she responds, “Then it’s a good thing you’re not my commanding officer, isn’t it? And it’s Special Forces Communications Sergeant Sutton, actually. Retired, but I still hold the rank, of course.” There’s smug pride in her tone, like she’s making sure I realize how well she’s done for herself. Or at least how high she rose since our last encounter.
“Impressive,” I return with a slight cocking of my head in acknowledgment. “That explains why that stick up your ass only drove deeper.”
Her blue eyes flash as she looks up at me, and I can tell she wants to tell me to fuck off, but all that training keeps it back. My lips pull up in amusement. The woman has always been cool and calm, other than with me. Even back then I saw the fire in her eyes. When I told her she was worthless to the Army if she didn’t grow some balls and buck up, I was harsh about it and I knew that. She was close to quitting, and I couldn’t allow that to happen. She had something then, and I wanted her to succeed, but when I told her that, it lit the nonexistent fire in her eyes and it burned constantly for months. Every time she saw me, she worked harder, just to prove me wrong. And while my methods were asshole-ish, it worked.
And you also didn’t want her to leave because you liked to look at her and obsess over her like some dirty old man.
I push that thought aside instantly. There is no way I’ll be going there. Thea is ten years younger than me and that’s far too much of a gap for me to ever consider looking at her that way. Even if she is as stunning as I knew she would be. Not that she wasn’t then. She was twenty-two then, her body just starting to lose that baby weight and look, but now she’s definitely all woman.
She’s five-eight of lean muscle but with good curves that make my hands itch to trace them. Her golden blonde hair is pulled up into a clip, some of it framing her face, and giving her a softer look. But the minute I look into those electric blue eyes, that softness is gone. In its place is a hardened soldier that has no problem going toe to toe with anyone in her way, even me. I don’t see any visible tattoos, but I would bet my favorite gun that she’s got a couple hiding under those tight as fuck clothes. Her heart-shaped mouth is bare of any lipstick or lip gloss, and is currently pulled down into a scowl. I push the thought aside that if I was any closer to her, I could lean down and take a bite of that full lower lip. God, I need to get a grip .
“I take it you two know each other?” Shadow drawls sarcastically. “Sniper, we’re trying to recruit her for our team, so how about you don’t scare her off?”
“Oh, I won’t scare her off,” I drawl back, my gaze never moving from Thea’s, whose blue eyes flash again. “She’s made of sterner stuff, aren’t you, Sutton?”
Instead of answering me, she turns away, dismissing me, and looks back at Shadow, Viper, and the other men now standing with them. Bullet shoots me a what the hell look, which I ignore. King is grinning like an idiot, while Viper looks intrigued. No doubt the tongues will be wagging at the clubhouse before long over this little exchange, and that means the women will be at me about it too. Fucking hell. I don’t need this right now, but like everything else, I’ll handle it.
It helps that most are too intimidated of me to say much to my face. Well, other than the women. Especially Rose, though I doubt she’s intimidated by anyone.
“I’m not sure what you would need me to do,” she replies to Shadow.
“We have a lot of things you will be well suited for,” Viper assures her. “And it ranges. We can go over it all if you’d be actually interested. Most of it is security work, and it would be great to have a female employee because we have a lot of female clients that would feel more comfortable with you than one of us.”
I see something flash on her face so quick I doubt anyone else noticed, but since I’m staring at her, I catch it and the hair on the back of my neck tingles. Yeah, there’s something there, and Viper’s statement set it off. I frown slightly, but I don’t ask, instead, just wait and listen. “I’ll think about it,” Thea replies noncommittally. “I’ll get back to you by the end of the week.”
Viper and Shadow both nod. Shadow steps forward and pulls a card from the front pocket of his cut. I have the inexplicable urge to snatch it away, telling him she’s not going to be anywhere near him, but I don’t move or act on it. What the fuck is wrong with me? I’m in her presence for all of five minutes and I’m already losing my mind. This is exactly why I avoided her as much as possible in the short time we were around each other.
She messes with my head and makes me want things I have no business thinking about.
“Just give me a call,” Shadow offers. “I’ll have a contract drawn up that will outline the offer and send it over to you or give it to Theo to give you. Then you can decide.” She nods and takes the card, pocketing it. Shadow turns to the man near him who must be Theo. Who is he to Thea? I look him over, but then realize his eyes are the exact same as Thea’s, and the closer I look, the more I realize the similarities. I relax, realizing this must be her brother. “And Theo, we’ll put your name forward for a vote as a Prospect, and when I hear back on it, I’ll let you know. If you’re accepted, you need to be ready to get to work as a Prospect immediately. Understood?”
“Got it,” Theo says with a wide, excited smile. Clearly, the guy is happy at the idea, which isn’t something I’ve seen a bit. But we also need more prospects and I’m glad it’s someone older this time and not a kid. Carson and Kaleb, our current Prospects, are damn good, but the others we’ve had recently are either too immature or flunk out and leave us high and dry.
Bullet and I share a look that says it’ll be brought up at the Church meeting later. The one we need to have in a few hours to discuss the shit show that happened at the bar last night. And the very reason we’re here to talk to Shadow and Viper.
“Good. You start tomorrow,” Shadow tells him. “Be here by eight, with your bike, and ready to work. We’ll get you all set up, and Eric can do your onboarding.”
Theo nods, shakes his and Viper’s hand, smacks Eric on the shoulder and then heads for the sleek black Dodge Challenger.
“Do I get to drive it now?” Theo asks Thea with a winning grin. “You know, now that I have a job and all that. I deserve a reward, right?”
Thea gives her brother a look that tells him to keep dreaming and a low chuckle escapes my mouth before I can hold it back. The only person that hears it is Bullet, who is standing next to me, and I can feel his probing gaze looking at me for a moment before he turns away. “Forget it,” Thea says as she heads for the driver’s side. “I’d like to live to see you start your job.” Then she climbs inside, and without so much as a glance my way, they’re driving off.
I force myself not to watch her leave, instead, firmly putting her out of my mind. We have more important things to focus on right now.
“Conference room?” Shadow asks. Bullet nods, and then we all make our way inside.
Once we’re into the building, Eric heads back to his desk and Bullet, King, and I follow Shadow and Viper into the conference room, shutting the door behind us. “What did you find out?” Shadow asks as we take our seats around the large table.
“It was definitely Vlad,” I tell them grimly. “We’ll discuss it more in Church, but Cryos was able to get into security feeds around the city and was able to track them to an abandoned car lot on the other side of the city where they ditched the SUV and got in another one waiting. Someone set the SUV on fire before they drove off, and the light was enough to get some facial features that Cryos could run.”
“And it came back to Vlad?” Viper asks.
“Well, Vlad’s men,” I correct.
“Which means we are about to have a war on our hands,” Shadow says grimly. “Though we knew it was coming. Especially with what happened with Eden and the fuckers in the apartment. I’m honestly surprised he hasn’t done this sooner.”
“The problem is we still don’t know where the son of a bitch is hiding out,” King points out.
“We need to step up our efforts on that,” Bullet agrees. “We’ll talk more about it in Church, but I want all hands-on deck, keeping an eye on the businesses. Do you have the manpower to do that?” he asks Shadow and Viper.
“We’re light on body guarding work so we can make it work,” Shadow answers. “Things would be easier if we had one more person to be the float between the clients we have going right now since it’s mostly just daily jobs, but we could always use Eric if needed and maybe we can get Rose to help us out in the meantime.”
“I’m sure she’d be up for that,” Bullet agrees.
“What we need is Thea to join us and then that would help out immensely. She could be our float without having to pull Eric,” Viper butts in, looking at me expectantly. “Though our VP over here might have pushed her off with whatever his deal is. Care to fill us in?”
They all look at me, and I shrug. “She was an officer under my command before I joined the Forces. Nothing more.”
“Nothing more?” Viper repeats incredulously. “Bullshit. What the hell was all that out there then? I thought she was either going to kiss you or punch you with the way she was looking at you.”
I refuse to react. “She was struggling and I gave her a push, even if she doesn’t think I did and thought I was just being an asshole. But she was close to quitting, and I knew if she did, she would regret it. She was pissed at me then but I watched her work harder, and smarter, than anyone else in her group. She excelled after that, and clearly made her way up through the ranks and into the Forces, which is no easy feat, especially as a woman.”
Shadow nods. “Yeah, it’s mostly a man’s world.”
“And she’s not going to turn down the job because of anything I said,” I assure him confidently. “Thea is made of sterner stuff than that. I do think her being the only woman here is going to be something that might hold her back.”
“What makes you say that?” Bullet asks.
“Just a feeling,” I say with a shrug. I know there’s more to it, but I’m not going to delve into it. It’s not my business and it’s not my problem.
Shadow and Viper look unconvinced, but they let it drop.
“Alright, I’m calling Church by the end of the day,” Bullet says briskly. “And we’re going to make a plan because we’re not going to let Vlad get away with this shit.”
“Do we need to plan on going full lockdown?” Shadow asks tightly. I glance at him and see the tension on his face and the hardness of his jaw. No doubt he’s thinking about his pregnant Old Lady and daughter.
“I’m not ruling it out.”
Personally, I have no issue with it since I live at the clubhouse anyway, but I also understand there are many brothers with Old Ladies and starting families who’d have. Syn and Stone for example, are expecting their first baby, and live next door to the clubhouse. Still, with that many people and adding in Shadow’s and Viper’s two kids, it will make the place crowded and that is something we have to prepare ourselves for.
“I’ll let Quinn know to be prepared,” Shadow says with a nod. “But for now, we continue as normal and I’ll make sure I’m the one to pick them up and take them to wherever they need to go.”
“I’ll do the same with Eden and Archer,” Viper agrees.
“Sage isn’t going to be happy if we do because she has to travel soon for a couple of shoots,” King says grimly. “And she’s under contract, so I’ll have to go with her again. Which is shit timing.”
“Where?” Bullet asks.
“LA again.”
“I’ll get a hold of Ruger and let him know that you’ll need the back-up while you’re out there.” Bullet pulls out his phone and shoots off a text to Phantom Kings MC’s President.
“Might need them to come this way if shit goes south,” I point out. We have some strong allies between different clubs across the countries, which includes some 1%ers, including the Phantom Kings, that we can call if things go bad, though I’m not sure where we would put them all.
“I’m going to get in touch with some of them to be ready,” Bullet replies grimly. “Hopefully, we can take care of this shit on our own. Because things are going to get worse before they get better.”
On that we both can agree. But thankfully I’m not afraid of a war like this. I’ve been through far worse and come out the other side. I just have to make sure my skills are up to par, and also work on making sure the bar gets back up and running as quickly as possible.
I’m not about to let Vlad scare us off, and I want that message loud and clear.