Chapter 3 Notch
THREE
NOTCH
A knock at my bedroom door woke me from my slumber.
The heat of the San Diego sun poured through the tinted, bulletproof windows of the bedroom that had been assigned to me when the damn place was built three years ago.
The knock came again, and I rolled out of bed, hitting all fours on the floor.
I wasn’t a morning person. I hated the fucking mornings.
I stayed up until five and slept until two in the afternoon, usually.
But as my eyes fell to the alarm clock by my bed, I saw it was only ten in the morning.
“Fuck,” I groaned.
“Church,” Stone said gruffly.
Sounded like he hadn’t had his coffee, either.
It was eerily quiet on the outskirts of San Diego.
And it was way too quiet for the bullshit that went down yesterday.
I stalked out of the room, pulling a shirt over my head with my jeans still unbuttoned.
I padded into the kitchen to find Texas whipping up some shit at the stove.
Bacon sizzled and toast popped out of the toaster.
There was coffee percolating, which all of us slowly moved toward.
I watched Texas shake his arm, and I narrowed my eyes.
“You good?” I asked.
His eyes flickered over to me before he pulled his shirt over his head.
“It itches,” he grumbled.
“That’s actually a good sign. Let me take a look at it,” I said.
I peeled the gauze back and smiled when I saw the yellow stains left behind.
Yellow was good. No more bleeding and no infection as of yet.
I rummaged around the kitchen, finding the massive first aid kit that was my responsibility to keep stocked.
I pulled out a few alcoholic wipes and cleaned up his wound while he hissed at the stove.
He turned over the crispy bacon, making my damn mouth water as I changed the gauze over his stitched-up gunshot hole.
“You’re healing well. A few more days, and we’ll be out of the woods with infection too,” I said.
“Ella’s got me in a cleaning regimen with it,” he mumbled
“Good. You need to stay on it then.”
“Anyone object to having church around the kitchen table. With some fuckin’ coffee?” Stone asked.
“So long as we don’t wake the girls, I don’t give a shit,” Bronx said.
We all turned our heads and watched the lumberjack walk out of the hallway.
I grinned as the hickies on his neck glared at us.
His hair was knotted and disheveled. The damn man looked like he hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep last night.
I held out my fist for him and he looked down at it, and then a smile crossed his face.
He fist-bumped me before I patted him on the back.
“Congrats,” I said.
“She’s a good girl,” Texas murmured.
“Just cover those damn things up before her father comes walking out. Yeah?” Stone asked.
Bronx slapped his hand to his neck before he turned on his heels and backtracked down the hallway.
As all of us waited for him to return, we poured ourselves some coffee and sat down.
But we weren’t sitting for long before we heard the rumbling of motorcycles.
Stone’s face reddened, and my ears perked up.
Texas automatically drew the weapon at his side as he slammed the plate of bacon down in the middle of the table.
“It’s fine, guys. Just my men,” Asher said.
Of course, the president of the Celtic Riders came out of his bedroom looking pristine and ready to go.
“Okay, guys. I got it cov—”
I held my hand up to Bronx before he said something that would get him killed where he stood.
“You got what?” Asher asked.
Bronx flickered his eyes over at the man as Stone grinned.
“Yeah, Bronx. You got what?” he asked.
I snickered as our safe house door opened, revealing four men who came walking in.
Texas murmured something about more coffee before he got out of his chair.
I watched them greet Asher as I buttered the toast. I made a few more slices, in case the slim and slender men who came walking through that door wanted to have half a slice.
They didn’t look much like Celtic Rider members to me.
Then again, Asher didn’t look happy with them. So, I didn’t say anything about it.
“What the fuck took you guys so long?” Asher asked.
“We had some of our own shit to deal with before we got on the road. Got in late last night,” one of them said.
“You guys should’ve been on the road the second I placed that phone call. What was so important that—”
One of the other men glared at Asher, and they seemed to silently communicate.
We all looked around at one another, waiting for someone to answer the obvious question hanging in the air.
I stood there with bated breath waiting for the men who were supposed to help us admit why they were late.
Admit why they had abandoned their president and his family in their time of need.
But all Asher did was nod.
“Well, you guys are here now,” he said.
My jaw dropped open at the nonchalant vibe of it all.
“What matters is you’re here now. There’s bacon, coffee, and toast. Help yourself,” Stone said.
I didn’t get a good feeling about any of this.
Then again, it wasn’t my place to have feelings about it.
I was the road captain and the emergency doctor on staff.
Sometimes, the mediator of fights. Always the fucking therapist. But I didn’t have opinions on shit like this.
That was Stone’s place. And if he was fine with it, then we all had to be fine with it.
Though, I saw Texas wasn’t fine with it.
“Asher updated us on what’s going on,” one of the riders said.
“And we think we’ve got a plan formulated to get you guys out of this with the least heat,” another said.
“Well, you can spit it out whenever you want,” Bronx said.
“That any way to talk to our guests?” Stone asked.
Apparently, he wasn’t a fan of the secrets, either.
One of the Celtic Riders sighed. “We think you should take out the cop. It’s the easiest target to deal with, and by taking him out you cut off this link between the Chinese and that department.”
“Not a chance,” Stone said.
“It’s the best plan you’ve got, because the Chinese will always have numbers on you. We should know. We dealt with them at one point. Not with guns, but with drugs,” Asher said.
“You guys dealt drugs?” Bronx asked.
“Haven’t for years, but in San Diego? That was our run,” Asher said.
“If you take out the cop, it draws the Chinese out. Possibly the head of this entire thing. The Chinese are meticulous in what they do, but that meticulousness comes at a cost. They probably don’t have a backup officer they’re talking to.
And when you take out the cop, you can submit the information you have on the Chinese to another officer and get the leg up on them,” one of the guys said.
“That cop is my fiancée’s father. We aren’t taking him out,” Stone said.
“Really?” one of the riders asked.
“Her father?” another questioned.
Asher paused. “You could have fed me that information sooner.”
“Not my fault you don’t pay attention. It was plainly laid out for you yesterday,” Stone hissed.
My eyebrows rose as I sipped on my coffee, watching the display of untrustworthiness unfold way too early in the morning for my taste.
“Look, we’re here to help. But if you don’t want our help—”
“You’re here to help, not command. You’ve tossed out an idea. I shot it down,” Stone said.
“If you keep that cop alive and on this trail with the kind of vendetta that man has, it’s not going to end well for any of us involved. And now, you’ve got my crew involved. So, we have equal say in what goes down with all this,” Asher said.
“Yes, but that equal say still doesn’t mean we follow you blindly,” Texas said.
“You have to get rid of the link between the police department and the Chinese. Leave them dangling before you get to them. Because if you attack the Chinese first and they alert the SDPD? You’ve got two groups of assholes on your ballsack.
And there isn’t enough men to dig you out of that situation,” Asher said.
“If someone has another way of doing this without killing my soon-to-be father-in-law, I’d really appreciate it if you opened your fucking mouth,” Stone growled.
A fight broke out between Asher and Stone. They went back and forth, defending their positions and not getting anything done. If we hadn’t woken up the girls already, we would soon. And their faces were quickly heating up with red. Their stances grew tense, with their fists balled at their sides.
“Okay, that’s enough,” I said breathlessly.
I went and slipped between the two men, pressing my hands into either of their chests.
“Don’t touch me,” Stone glowered.
“The fuck you think you’re doing?” Asher asked.
“Now that we’ve properly measured dicks, it’s time to take a breath, sit down, and come up with a conclusion that doesn’t implode the only other safe space we’ve got. Yeah?” I asked.
I looked at Stone and he drew in a deep breath.
“You’re right,” he said.
Asher sighed as he backed away from my hand.
“You’ve really gotten yourselves into some shit, you know that?” one of the riders asked.
“Yes, we do. Thanks for the reminder,” I said flatly.
“Does anyone have any other plans other than killing Detective Woolf?” Bronx asked.
And as we glanced around the room, no one produced any fresh ideas.
“Fuck coffee. I need a beer,” I grumbled.
I walked over to the fridge and pulled one out.
Even though no one had dismissed church, this was a waste of everyone’s time.
I stepped out onto the back porch and cracked the beer open and then sat down in one of the rocking chairs.
I sank into the wood, listening as the arguing started back up in the house.
Fucking hell, the girls had to be awake, listening to this nonsense and fearing for their safety.
We had to pull ourselves together. We were spiraling into a tailspin, and it wasn’t good for anyone involved.
And Asher needed to get a handle on his fucking guys.
I tipped the beer up and took a long pull.
That didn’t sit with me. If the Celtic Riders were dealing with their own shit, they didn’t need to be wrapped up in ours.
Because once they did us this favor, they’d surely be asking for one in return.
So, we’d dig ourselves out of one situation only to be thrust back into another. One that wasn’t ours to sort out.
Sure, it was a selfish idea. But we’d been floundering for months. Bronx was being forced to put all plans of legalizing our activities on hold because Stone fucked and fell in love with the wrong woman.
This is why I don’t mess around with women and their feelings.
Fuck and duck was my game for a reason. And this bullshit with Stone and Hayley and Hayley’s fucking father was one of them.
This plan would be easy to execute, and Stone wouldn’t have batted an eye at it if he wasn’t fielding the interest of his fiancée.
Not only did I not trust where Stone’s head was at, I didn’t trust the men that had come to help us out of this situation.
Then again, I’d never trusted anyone.
The Lost Boys were as close to trust as I could get.
And even then, that was touch and go. I trusted their actions.
I trusted that if I never needed to be bailed out of a situation, I could call one of them to come help.
But when it came to their judgment calls?
The decisions they made that affected this entire fucking crew?
I didn’t. Case in point, this entire thing.
First, Stone’s decision to let Jett marry his sister in the first fucking place, despite me telling him Jett was a damn scumbag.
Then, telling Stone to back off Texas when I saw something blossoming between him and Ella.
And then, trying to warn Bronx that something was off about Boulder once the damn detective infiltrated our ranks.
No one wanted to listen to me, and here we were.
“Great,” I murmured.
This was why I didn’t trust people, and this was why I didn’t get involved with women.
It was simply the nature of the beast. It was easier this way, not getting attached.
Not getting emotionally involved. Because when shit exploded—and it always did—I was never out any hurt feelings.
No broken hearts or shattered dreams for me.
But that kind of lifestyle came at a cost.
And the loneliness was sometimes unbearable.