Chapter 6 #2
Maddox sighed loudly across the other side of the shop, and Sally froze, before turning slowly.
“Excuse me, Brooks. You got something to say to me?” she demanded tartly, striding across the floor toward Maddox and the bike he was working on.
He watched her silently, his dark eyes unreadable, then just shrugged his huge shoulders.
“It’s just loud is all. Early and loud,” he muttered. Gage was the joker, the charismatic one, while Maddox was the taciturn, strong and silent type. But no one got under his skin like Sally.
Sally leaned a hand against the counter next to Maddox and gave him an overly sugary smile.
“Oh, poor baby, I’d hate to hurt your sensitive little ears in the morning.”
Maddox watched her with a blank expression. The look went on so long, Maddox’s hands were curled into tight fists by the time Sally chuckled.
She looked down at the bike.
“You’re leaking,” she remarked.
“I’m aware,” Maddox growled back.
Sally threw her hands up, like she was backing down from a fight. This was their dynamic. Sally pushed at Maddox’s buttons and then backed down before he broke his control.
“Ok, fine. Don’t get worked up, big boy,” she said, and made to step away, just as Maddox’s hand snapped out and grabbed her wrist.
Sally froze. At this point, I was pretty sure they’d forgotten that I was there.
Maddox grabbed the clean bandanna from his back pocket and pressed it into her hand.
“You’ve got grease on you,” he muttered and stepped back, releasing her.
She looked down at the hand she’d leaned on the counter. A long streak of black oil licked up the underside of her hand. She balled the bandanna into her fist, turned, and walked away.
I watched Maddox’s eyes following her out of the shop.
“You are going to get yourself murdered,” I warned him lowly.
“I know,” Maddox said heavily, his eyes still on the door that Sally had left through.
I didn’t have anything comforting to say to him. I had no fucking clue about relationships, or love, or any of that shit, but still, I felt like I should say something. But the moment passed quickly when Gage strolled back in.
“Did Sally leave already?”
“Hmm,” Maddox grunted, busying himself with the bike he was working on.
Denny and Rico’s bikes could be heard just down the road. If they’d arrived, then that meant it was time to get going. I nodded at Maddox, who stood, threw down his tools, and headed over to his bike. Minutes later, he took off, and the deal we’d been waiting for was underway.
“I think hanging here is harder than being at the deal,” Gage muttered before heading through the shop toward the back of The Clutch and the kitchen there, where Finn had graduated to raiding the commercial fridge.
Yeah, it was harder, infinitely so. If I had my way, I’d be at every deal and every drop, putting myself in harm’s way, instead of my men, but it sent the wrong message. The MC was only as powerful as their leader. It was bullshit posturing that I was sick and tired of.
The rest of the day passed slowly and meaninglessly.
I tried to occupy myself by sorting through the mounds of papers in my office, but every minute that went by without an update made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Things always seemed fine, until a second later, they weren’t.
In the Harbor Hounds, things didn’t just go bad, they went really bad.
When the call finally came, I was relieved to see Maddox’s name lighting up my phone screen.
“Everything going to plan?” I asked.
“Mostly.” It was Denny’s voice on the other end of the line, which made me uneasy. Why was he calling from Maddox’s phone?
“What do you mean mostly? Where is Maddox?” I asked.
“The seller is asking for more than we agreed. Maddox is still negotiating with him.”
“Tell him that we won’t budge. We are sticking to the number that we already agreed on. Tell him we will walk.”
“I don’t know, boss, he seems pretty set on a higher price,” Denny added.
“Tell him Cole Bailey doesn’t renegotiate after the fact. He can take the agreed-upon price, or we will walk.”
I hung up the call.
Another call came through just five minutes later, and this time Maddox’s voice was on the other end.
“Got the product. We’re headed back,” Maddox said in a strained voice.
“That’s good news, but what’s wrong, Maddox?” I asked.
“I got hit. It was minor.”
“How bad?” I asked, clenching my teeth.
“Just a graze. Nothing to worry about. It went clean through.”
“Clean through what?” I asked, slamming my palm against the desk. “Did anyone else get hit?”
“Left arm. Nope.”
I let out a slow breath, trying to control my temper. “Don’t stop anywhere. We’ll patch you up when you get back.”
It felt like time had stopped, until the rumble of incoming bikes echoed around the shop.
When they returned, Maddox was still wearing his black jacket, but even that couldn’t disguise the blood dripping down his arms and off his fingers.
Gage was on him as soon as he was off his bike, dragging him to the couch in my office.
Maddox had a bad track record of not taking the slightest amount of interest in injuries, until passing out at the bar from blood loss. I followed steps behind.
Gage pulled the wet leather from his arm and inspected the gunshot. “I think he’s going to need stitches.”
“I am not going to the damn ER,” Maddox growled through clenched teeth.
“No shit. I’ll call the doc,” I said, pulling out my phone to call Miles, a member of the Hounds and the closest thing we had to a doctor.
Finn hovered around Gage and Maddox, looking at the gunshot graze with fascination. Miles answered fast and would be here in five minutes. Gage got Finn to put pressure on Maddox’s arm, then stepped up beside me.
“Why does it feel like this shit is all getting harder?” Gage asked, his expression dark.
Because it was. More and more deals were going sideways. More injuries were happening, and I didn’t know why. But I needed to find out. I’d already sacrificed my life to make sure that my crew got to live theirs. I would make sure they got that chance I never did.
This, I swore.
“It was weird. A total turnaround since the last meeting. It was like… Hutch was convinced we were screwing him over,” Maddox muttered.
“Teddy poisoning our potential future relationship?” Gage ventured.
Maddox shrugged. “Maybe, but I don’t think the Vultures’ word is good for shit with Hutch. He’s over them. It felt like something else.”
I nodded and squeezed his good shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, you’ve done your part. I’ll see to it.”
It was my job to make sure my men didn’t get hurt, if I could help it, and I wasn’t letting them down now.