Chapter 1 West
ONE
WEST
Texas’s voice ripped me from my trance. “So, what the fuck is our plan?”
Puck groaned. “Probably to stay cooped up here forever.”
Stone glared at him. “We aren’t going to stay here forever, asshat.”
“Well,” Diego said as he turned to face our fearless leader, “then what the hell are we going to do?”
Stone looked over at me. “You got any input that’s going to be of use?”
I shrugged. “I mean, they’re right. We can’t stay cooped up here. We’re growing in numbers every single day and this warehouse is starting to fill out a bit too much.”
Frost crossed his arms over his chest. “Not to mention, some of our women are filling out a bit too much.”
Stone growled. “You leave Hayley to me.”
I scoffed. “We’ve left this crew to you and look at where it’s got us.”
Yeah, I said it, and sure, maybe it was out of line. But I didn’t regret it. Even as everyone turned toward me and balked. Even as Stone tried to pierce my heart with the daggers shooting from behind his stoic eyes. I didn’t care, though.
The only thing I cared about was getting out of this bullshit alive.
“I know we can’t stay here forever,” Stone said flatly, “but it’s easier to keep everyone safe this way, especially our women and children. We’re all in one place, which means—”
“We’re sitting targets,” Frost murmured.
“Would you guys shut the hell up?” Stone hissed.
Texas snickered. “You either want our input or you want us to shut up. You don’t get to have it both ways.”
Shock rolled over the faces of everyone in church, including my own.
Texas always had Stone’s back. That was how their relationship worked.
But to listen to Texas position himself on the other side of the argument told me that things had gone to hell and back more than we all realized.
For the first time since Stone’s reign over this club began, he stood alone in his arguments and his position.
And as much as I wanted to stand with him, I couldn’t. “Frost is right. We’re all sitting ducks just waiting for someone to take us all out. We need a plan, and we need a future plan. Not a right-now plan.”
Stone shook his head. “Right now is all we’ve got.”
Frost walked up to my side. “Not if we continue being on the defense and don’t step up to play offense.”
I thumbed toward him. “What he said.”
Texas placed his hand on Stone’s shoulder. “They’re right. We have to take a stand and we have to create future plans to get out of here. We need something that puts us one step ahead instead of three steps behind. Otherwise, this is just the slow way the cartel wins.”
Stone shrugged off his best friend’s touch. “Fuck you.”
Texas sighed. “Maybe not today. Though, try me tomorrow?”
Stone’s face fell and the guys all looked around the room. We waited for Stone to lose his shit. To haul off and slug Texas right in the jawline. However, the second Texas busted out that cheeky little grin of his, Stone snickered.
“You’re a fucking asshole, you know that?” he asked.
Texas forced a smile. “I’m a fucking asshole who’s always on your side, even if you don’t see it. But our guys are right. We have to stop defending and we have to start attacking.”
Stone raked his hands through his hair. “I know that. As president, I shouldn’t be asking this question…but how the fuck are we going to take down an entire goddamn cartel?”
Everyone fell silent at his question. We had been in the trenches for so long fighting for our right to exist while pushing out an influence in our territory that was destructive and dangerous that we couldn't see past the smoke we had kicked up with our deflective bombs.
It was a nightmare; every time we turned around the cartel had a way to get to us. A way to hurt us.
A way to mangle us more than we had already been mangled.
I watched as my guys—my brothers—struggled for an answer. I watched them rack their brains, trying to come up with ideas while hopelessness crossed their faces. It killed me seeing them like that. Seeing my family struggling just to come up with answers to an impossible fucking question.
“Well,” Stone said as he locked his hands behind his head, “consider this a thinking cap sort of time. We’ll remain in lockdown here in the warehouse until we can figure out our next moves.
But you guys are right. We need a forward plan of action that puts us back on top, and we can’t risk moving until we have it. ”
Stone dismissed church, but everyone stood there for a second.
We didn’t know what the hell to do. We didn’t know how the hell to come together to beat an entity that had at least twelve times the amount of people that we did at their disposal.
It felt like we were an island off the coast of some fucking country, yet we were responsible for protecting the entire country while we watched fucking bomber planes headed in our direction.
I tried not to give up hope altogether as Stone came up to me.
“Can we talk?” he asked.
I pulled myself back out of the recesses of my mind. “Yeah, yeah. Sure.”
He held his hand out, leading me into the kitchen, and I went with him.
It felt like my body had been commanded to move by some other entity.
As if someone else in my head were calling the shots.
Everything felt so…fuzzy. Everything felt as if it moved at lightning speed while my body felt as if it trudged through mud.
And after all of the guys cleared out, Stone licked his lips. “How’s Chloe doing since you got her back here?”
I shook my head softly. “She’s pretty banged up. She’s got a fractured rib, possibly two. Her bruises will certainly get worse before they get better. She had a finger that got dislocated somehow, and now it just needs to rest.”
“Can we trust her? Is she someone we can keep close?”
That was when Frost stuck his head in. “As someone who makes it a habit of listening in all the time, Lexi is Chloe’s best friend. We can trust her.”
Stone glanced over at him. “She’s willing to vouch for her friend?”
Frost nodded his head as he came into the kitchen. “They aren’t just friends; they practically grew up together. Chloe has been helping to raise my daughter. She’s family at this point. We can absolutely trust her. Plus, she’s got skills we could use.”
I furrowed my brow. “Skills?”
Frost grinned. “She’s a hacker. A techy. You know, like you.”
Stone’s eyes ignited with hope. “That, we can most definitely use.”
“So, you’re trusting her?” Frost asked.
I shrugged. “I trust her. At least, until she gives me a reason not to.”
Stone nodded. “I’m in that same boat. She’s good until she isn’t. We can’t afford to turn down working talent right now, anyway. You think she’d be up for a few small jobs?”
I didn’t know why that made me bristle as much as it did, but I kept it at bay.
I stuffed down the knee-jerk reaction that bubbled in my gut and watched while Frost and Stone went back and forth about this girl.
I stood there, staring at the metallic backsplash of the kitchen while they talked as if I didn’t fucking exist.
And when they finally called my name, it wasn’t for the reason I expected.
“West,” Stone said.
I turned my attention to him. “Yep, I’m on it. Whatever it is, you know I’m up for the task.”
Stone grinned. “Good, because you’re officially in charge of taking care of and watching over Chloe.”
I blinked. “Wait, what?”
Frost chuckled as he patted my back. “All of us are busy with our own women and children. So, you get to take the watch on Chloe. Make sure she gets the rest she needs in order to heal, otherwise Lexi might just kill you over it.”
I clicked my tongue. “Thanks.”
Stone came to stand in front of me. “We need you on this, all right? You up for it?”
I shook the cobwebs from my head. “I’ve got it under control. Don’t you worry about that.”
It wasn’t as if I had been thinking about leaving Chloe defenseless against the cartel.
I wasn’t that kind of person. But I knew what was stirring in my gut.
I knew what my stomach did every time I was around her.
I saw the way she looked at me whenever I was in the same room as her, and I wasn’t sure if I could do it.
I wasn’t sure if I could fail at this kind of a task again and survive it.
“She’s not Tiffany,” Stone murmured.
Just hearing her name stirred anger within my chest. “I know that.”
Frost paused. “Who’s Tiffany?”
“No one,” Stone and I said in unison.
Frost held his hands up in mock surrender. “I’m going to go deliver the news to Chloe. She’ll want to know what’s happening.”
I nodded. “Good idea.”
Stone nodded along with me. “Yep. Sounds good.”
And after Frost left, I leveled my president with a gaze. “You don’t ever say her name ever again. Understood?”
He sighed. “Yeah, I get it. Sorry, I’m an idiot.”
Yeah, you really fucking are sometimes, Stone.