Chapter 30 Catfish #2
“But what if I call you my old half? Because some of you and me makes me whole.” I step right into their space. “Or maybe you’re my old heart, because you keep mine beating.”
The corner of Wren’s lip lifts in a smile. “Fine, old heart, because old half sounds a bit like I’m half old lady, half old man, which is weird.”
I run my thumb over their lower lip. “Old heart it is.”
“Fine,” they say again. “But it stays in the club. If anyone outside hears it, I deny all knowledge of it.”
“Understood.”
“Forget and I’ll rewire your bike to explode at sixty miles per hour with you on it.”
I grin at that, and in spite of the rest of my brothers being right there, I kiss Wren in front of them.
It’s no use pretending anymore. Plus, I just don’t fucking want to.
“You’re so romantic,” I whisper.
They kiss me back. “Only for you.”
The phone in Grudge’s hand rings, and he looks at it for a second before remembering it’s Wren’s.
“Here,” he says, handing it back to them.
They look confused at the screen, for a second.
Over their shoulder, I see the name, LagRabbit.
“They never call me,” Wren mutters.
And in spite of everything, the only emotion I have about their words is jealousy.
Who the fuck is LagRabbit, and why are they calling my Wren?
I force myself to look at my president. “The only thing I’ve done wrong is fall for Wren when I wasn’t supposed to.
Everything else was in line with what we promised we’d do.
You want to hit me with a punishment, get on with it, but if it involves handing Wren’s safety off to someone else, you can go fuck yourself. ”
Grudge puts his hands on his hips. “It started off strong as apologies go, and yet, somehow you ended it by telling me to go fuck myself.”
“Live and let love,” Jackal says. “It’s not any of our business who Catfish is hooking up with. And from what I can tell, Wren is a grown-ass human being who knows their own mind. Figure if they didn’t want to be with Catfish, we wouldn’t be standing here in the arctic tundra quibbling about it.”
I try to pay attention to what Jackal is saying, but I’m partly listening to Wren’s conversation. It’s probably wrong, but I can’t help myself, especially when I hear them say, “How do they know about the contract?”
But I try to focus back on my brothers, who are all staring in my direction.
“Genie’s out of the lamp,” Wraith says. “No point trying to stuff it back in.”
“I’m docking a month’s salary because we can’t just go breaking rules,” Grudge says.
I look at my best friend, who secretly fell in love with Butcher’s daughter. “No?”
Atom flips the bird in my direction.
“But,” Grudge continues. “Because I’m not an asshole, I’ll send the twenty percent you give to your sister each month directly to her. Willa and the kids shouldn’t suffer because you were thinking with your dick.”
I let out a breath of relief. Willa is just about back on her feet after her jerk-off of a husband left her with a large mortgage and no money in their bank account.
I was hoping to divert the money once she’s fully back on her feet to help her save for the kids’ college or something before I have any kids of my own to save for.
Wren comes to stand back next to me. “I think I just found us another lead.”
“What is it?” I ask.
“A friend. They found a hacker called Mika, talking about how they’d been approached by a federal agent. Mika was threatening to sell their story.”
Taco crosses his arms. “When you say found is this one of those online founds where they could be anywhere in the world, or really found?”
“Really found. They’re in Woodside, Utah. Assuming they’re home.”
“Solid four-hour ride on a good day,” Smoke says. “Be slower in the trucks in this weather, even though it’s major highway most of the way.”
Grudge rubs his hand across his chin. “Some of us should go check it out.”
“We should keep it to one truck,” Wraith says. “The guy’s a fucking hacker. Gonna have pasty skin and no friends to back him up.”
“Assuming Mika is a guy, I doubt he’s going to hand anything over willingly,” Wren says. “I’ll go—I’ll know what questions to ask and how to access their setup without damaging it.”
“No!” The answer comes from several of my brothers.
And me.
Wren rolls their eyes. “For heaven’s sake, I’m as capable of solving this as anyone is.”
“You are,” Wraith says. “No doubting it. But you come with us, and Catfish’ll be distracted, worrying about you and whether you are safe. Which means, you coming with us is a liability.”
I turn to face Wren. “I’ve got this. Trust me to do what I do, remember? And I’ll bring all the equipment home so that you can do what you do.”
There are little frown lines on their forehead. “You’re just going to steal Mika’s set up?”
“We are.”
“Would arguing with you change your stance?” Wren asks.
I squeeze their hand. “Thank you for looking out for me earlier, with the call to King,” I say, knowing I didn’t answer their question. “It was quick thinking on your part.”
“I think there might be times in our relationship when I hate you.”
Unhurried, I take their hand, lift it to my lips and kiss their knuckles. “Why’s that?”
“You’re about to use that as a metaphor that we each know how to problem solve in certain situations to our best advantage.
And you riding out into an unknown situation is something you are more skilled at than me, and I should just shut up and go back to the ranch house quietly and wait for the electronics. ”
“Gee, I wish Ember was that fucking reasonable,” Atom says.
Wraith laughs. “Told you that you should have gone for one of the quiet ones.”
Smoke slaps a hand on Wraith’s back. “Yeah, but some of us like an untamed spirit.”
I try to ignore the fact everyone is listening to us and focus on what Wren needs right now.
“Maybe that’s sort of what I’m saying. But what I mean is, I’ll go to do the first half.
Find Mika, grab all their devices, and bring them back to you.
And then, I’ll sleep while you tear them apart and find the information we need. ”
“Fine,” Wren huffs.
“Then, can we get Wren back to the ranch house, and the rest of us to the clubhouse so we can figure out how to go find this Mika?” Grudge says, and then he turns to Wren. “You ever call the national president on me again, I’ll shoot you where you stand.”
But I can’t help the smile that dances on the corners of my mouth when Wren stands up tall, looks him in the eye, and says, “Then don’t threaten either of us ever again, and I won’t have to.”