Chapter 36
Bolo
Three days later, I walked into the clubhouse and sat down at the table, ready for church. This was one where Ruck had invited Merc, Hype, and Code to attend as well, since we’d be discussing The Collective.
Dr. Natalie had kept Dev in the hospital for a couple days—she’d been released this morning and was waiting for me at her parents’ house—just to make sure she and the baby were okay.
They were, thank fuck. I’d barely slept, sitting at her hospital bed.
Not because it was uncomfortable. I’d been in the Army and I could literally sleep anywhere, anytime. It was the fucking dreams.
I kept waking up thinking I was back in that fucking house, searching for Devyn. Then I’d spend the rest of the night watching her sleep, keeping an eye out for any trouble. None came, but I was ready. I hadn’t expected Bowers. The Collective wouldn’t catch me by surprise again.
“How’d it go?” I asked, looking at my brothers’ grim faces. Frowning, I realized Kilo wasn’t here.
“Someone managed to give them a head’s up,” Ruck said, frustration heavy in his voice. “We got maybe a third of them. The rest managed to get away.”
“Not for long,” OD added, a scowl on his face. “They won’t be able to hide forever.”
“Couldn’t just kill all the motherfuckers,” Strike told me, “since we were in the middle of the city.”
“Most had already taken off before we got to the second location.” Drifter shook his head. “We had the perfect damn plan. What fucking happened?”
Flir tapped at his laptop, then pointed up to the TV on the wall.
We all watched in anger and frustration as Bowers entered one of the apartment complexes. “Shit,” I muttered. “I had no fucking clue that jackass was working with The Collective. Didn’t think he’d toss his career away so readily.”
“None of us realized,” Ruck replied. “I’m just sorry he focused on your old lady and everything that happened that night.”
“Not your fault,” I told him. “He didn’t give any indication he was dirty. I just figured he wanted to send our asses to prison.”
“That’s what we all thought,” Relay said. “He gave us no reason to think otherwise.”
I frowned again. “Where the fuck is Kilo?” A thought occurred to me and my head snapped in Ruck’s direction. “He okay?”
“He’s fine,” Ruck told me.
“He’s with Camila and the baby,” OD explained. “Watching over them.”
I relaxed hearing that and nodded. “I’ll be heading straight back to Dev after this. Isaac is there with her and her family right now.”
“About that,” Ruck said. I narrowed my eyes at the look he was giving me. “You, OD, and Kilo are out for now.”
I froze, confusion taking over. “Out?” I glanced over at OD, but couldn’t read the expression on his face. He didn’t seem upset about Ruck’s statement though, so I was guessing it wasn’t the first time he heard it.
“We’re not letting The Collective go. We have them on the run and we’re going after them. We can’t afford to slow up our attack.”
Realization settled in. There was no way to know where The Collective was going to run to. They could stay in Phoenix, but they could just as easily leave. It was going to be dangerous and despite the fact that I could help them out, I needed to be here for Devyn.
“We need people to stay and take care of our families,” OD added, watching me closely.
“You’re staying with Rue and the boys.” It wasn’t a question. Of course that was what he was going to do. Even with me and Kilo here, Rue was pregnant, too, and there was no way OD was going to go far.
“You’re all staying with your old ladies and kids,” Ruck told me.
It didn’t surprise me at all that Ruck was putting this order in place before any of us even had a chance to think of it ourselves.
He was about to be heading into a war and he wasn’t about to take us and leave our families defenseless.
As much as I wanted to be there by his side, to help my brothers, this was where I belonged and I had no problem putting Devyn and my baby first. It was nice to see that our president didn’t have an issue with it either.
We’d gone from a group of single guys to three of us about to be—or already—fathers in a damn hurry.
But the club was pivoting and adapting to our new roles easily. I was grateful for that.
“Who all’s staying behind?” I asked.
“You, OD, Kilo, and-”
“Me,” Relay said, interrupting Ruck.
I turned in my seat, staring at him. It was shocking enough the other night that he’d left with me to help with Devyn, but for him to stay behind on this? “You sure that’s a good idea?” I asked Ruck, looking at my president. “He’s going to be hugely beneficial in this fight.”
“He would be,” Ruck agreed. “But he wants to be here. And if The Collective circles back around to come after any of you again, my money would be on him. I feel more comfortable leaving him here than taking him with us. Besides, if these fuckers stay in the city, we’ll still be utilizing him.
But you three? It’s your job to protect the families.
“He and Glitch got you some pretty nice places to stay,” Code said with a grin. “The houses even have pools. I want a damn pool.”
“No one wants to see you in a fucking banana hammock, Code,” Hype told him.
Code snorted. “I tan naked.”
“Even worse,” Merc grunted. “There’s going to be kids running around those neighborhoods.”
“Oh. Right. Ugh, never mind.”
I shook my head at them. “You’ve already found some houses? Shit, that was fast.”
“Not fast enough,” Drifter said dryly. “Good news is they’re close to the hospital.”
“We’re throwing money at escrow to get in there as soon as possible,” OD added.
“We want all of you in those places and out of the spots The Collective may know about as soon as possible,” Strike told me.
“Being close to the hospital was a perk Glitch thought of,” Ruck said with a grin, ignoring the fact that the guys had just said that the club was using money and whatever power it had to get us into these places quickly.
He’d already had enough of me, and probably Kilo and OD, thanking him.
“Never even occurred to me to see how far they’d be from the hospital.
But with two pregnant women, one who works there, and a third who just had a baby…
being only a couple miles away is a huge bonus. ”
“Yeah it is,” I replied with a nod. “I’ll have to shoot him a message. Tell him thanks.”
“Like Code said, these places are nice, too,” OD told me. “There’s enough for all the families to move in and we’ll all be next door to each other.”
“You think your soon to be sisters-in-law will mind sharing a house?” Flir asked.
“Shouldn’t be an issue,” I replied.
“If it is, I can stay with a couple of them,” Code offered.
“Fuck no,” I told him. “You’re banned.”
“You can’t ban me,” Code huffed.
“Yeah he can,” Hype said with a smirk.
“You’re not coming over either,” I told him, chuckling when the grin slipped off Hype’s face.
“What the fuck?” Hype asked. “Why not?”
“Young, hot women,” Merc said, answering for me.
“Well, what about him?” Code asked, jerking a thumb in Merc’s direction.
“He can come over if he leaves you two assholes at home.”
Both their mouths dropped open and Merc laughed.
“You’d let that old man near your sisters-in-law and not us?” Hype asked.
“Yes, I would. Because,” I said before they could ask why, “he’s thirty-three years old and he’s not interested in some twenty year olds.”
“How do you know?” Hype asked. “He could like ‘em young.”
“I don’t,” Merc replied with a disgusted look.
“He doesn’t,” I answered at the same time as Merc.
Hype looked back and forth between me and Merc. “How the fuck did you know that about him?” he asked, puzzled. “You two don’t talk.”
We were brothers. Of course we talked. Plus, we used Merc as an enforcer often thanks to his size, strength, and skills, which put him directly under my supervision.
Not to mention, I made it a point to know every one of my brothers.
They didn’t realize it. And Relay would tell me it made me a fucking snitch, but I made it my business to know all their business.
I didn’t consider that being a snitch because I didn’t tell anyone else a damn thing. I just made sure I knew so I could help where I was needed. “You’re twenty-eight,” I told Hype. “Far too similar in age to those girls. You’re not coming any closer to those houses than he is.” I pointed at Code.
They both wanted to flip me off, but they wouldn’t. Not here. Not in church. They had far too much respect for this room, our president, and this tradition. They were fucking thrilled to be included in it at all, so they kept their mouths shut.
“I appreciate you finding us places so quickly,” I told Ruck, getting back to the matter at hand.
“Now that we know The Collective isn’t above going after women and children, we need a safe space.
All the families will be staying there, yours, Dev’s, and Camila’s.
Even Kilo’s mom will be coming over from Casa Grande to stay in one of the houses.
We need everyone close and safe,” Flir said, reading off his laptop.
I knew if I checked, it would show every name of each person in every family listed off and where they’d be staying. He’d probably assigned them bedrooms. “We’ll get everyone moved in over the next couple days. My dad and brothers will help.”
Relay scowled at that, but didn’t say anything. He just crossed his arms over his chest and stayed quiet.
I needed to check in with him after this. Ruck had implied that Relay had been the one who’d asked to stay behind and help. I knew how much he depended on the chaos that we got into. Babysitting wasn’t his style. So why had he made that offer? Why was he staying here to watch over the families?
I was grateful. It wasn’t that I wasn’t. I just didn’t know what was going on with him and wanted to find out what it was. It was important to me to stay in the loop. With him especially.