CHAPTER 60 #2
“Ethan.” Deeds throws Dozer’s real name out like an insult.
“Appreciate the welcome wagon, but you boys didn’t have to come all this way for little old me.
Especially under false pretenses. Couldn’t write me an email, or fuck.
” Deeds reaches into his pocket, produces his phone, and drops it on the table. “Could’ve fuckin’ called.”
“Decker.” Dozer returns the insult. “Wanted to keep this meeting between us, have a sit down. I didn’t know if you’d come alone, and the less people who know about this, the better.”
Deeds’ fierce gaze snaps to me. He motions to Dozer and then to Finn next to him. “So, this is your choice?” he asks in a cutting and harsh tone.
I swallow hard and force myself to hold his gaze and give him an honest answer. “You had your plans, and I had mine. They aligned once, but things changed with time.”
“What changed?”
“I…” I look toward Finn, and he comes forward. He takes the seat beside me and puts his arm around my shoulder. I find strength in the blue depths of his irises. “I did, and…” Looking back across the table, I say, “My loyalties lie elsewhere now. I’m sorry.”
“It’s like that?” His features are pinched. There’s anger, but hurt too. I think he’s going to do something stupid, because Deeds’ emotions tend to get the best of him. Being cornered was the only way to get him here alone, but it’s also fired him up.
“Well, isn’t that cute. The two little love birds finally figured their shit out.”
“Deck.”
“Nah, Gypsy. I can be pissed. My God given right to be. This fucker disappeared for how fuckin’ long and left you to escape that place.
Didn’t lift a finger to help after he’d gotten the worst kind of target pinned on your back.
Does he know all that shit? Know Veno stabbed you, and he let the Thirteens beat you so bad you were in the hospital for a week?
That that shitty landlord of his made you trade favors for rent?
That you still have nightmares and panic attacks all the fucking time because of that shit. ”
Finn raises his arm, rests his elbows on the table, and leans forward. “I know all of it. And I’m . . .”
“What?” Deeds spits out and matches his posturing.
“Fuckin’ grateful you were there to see her through the worst of it.”
Deeds looks at him for a long time. “Not what I thought you were gonna say.”
Finn shrugs his shoulders. “Doesn’t make it any less true. I care for her more than you know. It fuckin’ rips me up that I wasn’t there to protect her when she went through that shit. I would’ve done anything to save her from it.”
Deeds’ gaze bounces from Finn to me and back. “So it’s for real for you then?”
“Always was. I’d been looking for her but didn’t know how to track her down. There’s a reason for that, which I think you’re privy to.”
“The injury, when you did your last tour?”
Finn nods. “Head injury. Shrapnel in the brain. Amnesia and the whole nine yards. Couldn’t remember enough of the past to use it to find her.”
Again, Deeds takes the time to answer. But his question this time isn’t for Finn. It’s for me. “So you finally made your choice.”
“Lily and I, one of the deals we made was no more secrets. No more lies.” His tone is calm but firm. That’s why she came clean about what you sent her here to do. You were a big secret. One I wasn’t fuckin’ expecting.”
“I’ll bet, but I wanna hear it from her.”
I give him the words I couldn’t say when we were messing around. At the time, I told myself it was because I couldn’t have Finn, so I couldn’t give voice to them or own them like I do now. “It’s always been him. I just didn’t know what I do now, and that truth… it changed everything.”
The silence that follows is heavy.
Deeds breaks it by asking, “So what all did you tell them?” He takes in the men present, like he’s weighing every possible option and measuring their worth. His eyes dart to Dozer, the largest unspoken threat. “How much do you know?”
I hesitate, swallowing the lump in my throat. “Everything,” I say quietly.
Dozer’s glaring and hasn’t taken his gaze off Deeds. “I’ll get straight to the point, man—we need to know what you know. We got history, and I came here out of respect for that. Woulda hoped you’d do the same, but here we are.”
Deeds lets out a slow breath, and that cocky, unbothered smirk creeps back onto his face. He stretches out and gets comfortable. “You gonna believe me?”
Finn fires back, “Can you back it up?”
“Some of it. But not everything, that’s why I sent her.” He motions to me. “I know the basics and what’s happening on the cartel side of things from our point of view, but Lily’s gonna have a better sense of who’s on the inside that you can’t trust.”
Every eye in the room turns to me. Finn knows everything, but he’s going to let me be the one to share all the details.
“You’ve got at least three Thirteen Devils in your club.”
“Who?” This comes from Taz, and his face is a mask of disbelief.
Deed’s cocks raises a brow and looks directly at me.
Dozer’s head snaps to the side, and a surprised look crosses his features. “Three, you only told me of two.”
“I’m certain of two, and the third I’m seventy percent sure of.”
“Who?” Dozer snaps.
“Stone for sure, and Croc. Grinder is the one I’m not a hundred percent sure of, and he’s a hard man to get close to, so that’s why I’m not certain.”
“Are you sure?”
I face all the HOCs and tell them exactly what I did, the full extent of it, the stuff they don’t yet know about.
“I’ve followed you all for months and months.
I bugged rooms, phone, and cars. Even a few of the businesses.
Not to send the details to GBs but… well, think of it like a breach test and yes, I was gathering intel, but more to see where you all needed to beef up security and cover your asses.
I also needed to know what rats you had inside your club and see if their ties ran deep or not. ”
“Holy shit, I feel completely violated,” Bodie quips. Taz slaps him upside the head. “What? Don’t you?”
Taz snaps, “Who the fuck are you?”
“She’s what we call a fixer.” Deeds taps his fingers on the table.
“She is essentially a chess piece in a bigger game.” He throws a devious smile at me.
“One we use to blackmail high rollers or dirty politicians. She can blend in or stand out in any environment. Her job is not to judge the target, but find out how to take them down physically, financially, mentally, whatever way we need to go about it.”
Finn knows this part, so it comes as no surprise to him; however, the others are reeling.
Finn and I shared just enough to get them to this meeting and let them know that the Greenbacks aren’t the enemy.
Not really. So they know some of it, but not the full scope of what I’ve done to get this information.
We thought it best for them, the men we trust the most in the club, to see if we faced any fallout after revealing what we shared.
Having Deeds back it up and admit he’s the one who paid me to do this job, well, we hoped it would shift the weight of my actions onto him and hopefully give him some credit for doing it for the right reasons—maybe even create a small circle of trust between these men, Dozer and Deeds, who are also next in line to take up the president patch.
If they are to become the next leaders of their separate clubs, and they’re fighting one common enemy united, there’s a better chance of us all making it out of this alive.
Finn’s part of the plan, not mine.
See, this meeting wasn’t just about gathering information and passing it on to the HOCs; it was also about me coming clean to the HOCs in a safe environment, with Deeds essentially owning up to it as the puppet master pulling my strings.
“Jesus, Lil’ Bird, Bodie groans and covers his face. “You’re like Mrs. Smith, and you never fucking told me?”
“Would you have believed me?”
He rubs his jaw. “Good point. Maybe. Probably. But I would have had a million questions.”
I smirk at this. “No doubt.”
“Seriously, bad ass though. Props.” He smiles wickedly at me.
Taz smacks him again.
“Fuck, cut that shit out!” Bodie grumbles.
“Then be serious for a second so we can figure this shit out.” Taz growls.
Dozer is scowling. “How much of our business did you leak to Deeds, and who has access to it is what I want to know.”
“Just me and Bones, my tech guy. And Griz knows everything. He’s been in the loop since he figured her out months ago.”
“What?” Dozer’s gaze snaps to me.
“I met him years ago when you all visited the Greenbacks. Which is when I first realized Finn wasn’t dead like I’d thought he was. I’d met Griz then, and when he saw me talking with Deeds at the rally in Reno, he figured it out.”
“And you knew all this?” Dozer asks Finn.
“She came clean to me while I was in rehab. This is me, protecting her while also keeping you all informed. We didn’t want this falling into the wrong hands or her ass on the line because Deeds wasn’t there to back up her story.”
Dozer takes his time responding. His gaze travels from Finn to me. Finally, he asks, “What else don’t I know?”
I exhale heavily and turn to Finn so he can see the regret on my face. “They got to Mateo. We’ve taken care of it, but he’s pretty messed up over it.”
“How?”
“His mom’s boyfriend. That lawyer who was always getting the Thirteen Devils off on technicalities.
That was her boyfriend. He was using Mateo’s mom as leverage over him, pushing Mateo to prospect into the club, and relay details about when Finn did runs or left the house.
They pushed him into selling drugs at school. ”
“Are you serious?” Bodie’s voice is full of fury.
“Yes, we got that info straight from the lawyer,” I confirm.
“Right before I shot him and buried his ass.” Finn tacks on.
Bodie’s hand rubs against his mouth. “Fuck. Right under our fucking noses.”
Dozer shares a grim expression with Finn. “Is it possible the others are being manipulated into giving them intel?”